
Class 
Book. 



LChIjL 



iz 



7^ 



Copyright }^^. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




JACKSON. 



SCHOOL-ROOM HELPS 



....FOR.... 



Teachers a.nd Parents 



A School 

Government for Public School 

Instruction 



-j& 



By G. W. JACKSON 

Pfincipal of Fred Douglass High School 

Gorsicana, Texas 



Introduction by 

PROFESSOR H. T. KEALING 

President of Western University, Quindaro, Kansas 

I9I2 



Nineteen Twelve 

A. M. E. Sunday School Union 

Nashville, Tennessee. 



^ 



.1>^ 



X'^ifi 



PUBLISHER'S WORD, 



In presenting to the public this work, we believe we have added 
to the long list of Negro productions a volume combining within 
its covers instruction, inspiration and encouragement, expecially 
helpful to that over-worked and under-paid class of men and 
women who are engaged in the great and mighty task of "teaching 
the young idea how to shoot." Out of a ripe experience of thirty- 
five years in the schoolroomcomesin the form of "School-Helps," 
guide posts and sign boards, which followed, will direct to success 
many discouraged pedagogues along the rough and rocky road- 
way over which they are forced to travel. 

"School-Helps" will naturally appeal to teachers first, but there 
is'^much information to be gained by those of other professions 
and occupations — by the thoughtful and want-to-find-out 
individuals who are always interested in the original productions 
of Negro brain and ingenuity. 

Aside from a presentation of valuable statistics showing the 
progress of educational advantages and opportunities in his 
State — Texas — the author has given in succinct form short 
biographies of the men and women who made or helped to make 
these advantages and opportunities possible and "reachable." 
This (furnishing inspiration to all) together with valualjle data 
from a national viewpoint as concerns the Negro and his edu- 
cational accomplishments, makes the book of general interest. 

The teacher who is unable to gain from this work helpful 
suggestions and clear-cut instruction is blind to the command: 
Get wisdom, but with all thy getting, get understanding. 

To those who are preparing to make teaching a life work; to 
those young people of the race who are about to cross the thresh- 
old of the schoolroom as instructors, we recommend "School- 
Helps" as a prescription for many of the ills incident to teacher 
life — yea, as a nerve tonic so much needed by the inexperienced 
novice. 

Parents, too, will find in these pages much that will enable 
them to assist the teacher in the training of their children by 
heeding the advice to begin the child's education around the fire- 
side. 

We are pleased to present this volume, then, not solely because 
it is the work of a Negro, but, rather, because of its intrinsic 
worth — because it will be helpful to its readers generally, and to 
the teachers of our boys and girls in particular. That this will be 
the case is the belief of • 

THE PUBLISHERS. 



y 

'CIA330161 



DEDICATORY PAGE. 



Dedicated to 

My Son Beecher Arnett, and to my Race, 

With the hope that my only Son will spend his life in the 

Elevation of this Race. 



THE ^AUTHOR'S THANKS FOR SERV- 
ICE RENDERED. 



The writer is in debt to the following persons — colaborers, in 
the schoolroom, for service rendered in copying and arranging 
of the matter of this book: — Mrs. N. L. Perry, for some ten 
lessons in Primary Numbers; Miss B. M. Allen, for copying; 
Miss V. P. Hardee, for reading and correcting matter; Miss 
S. F. Morton, for copying correcting, arranging, and paging. 

e^ 4^ ft^ 

AUTHORS CONSULTED. 



The following Authors were consulted to add to the writer's 
stock of information in the w^ork of this book: 

E. E. White's School Management and Arts of Teaching; 
Charles A. McMurry on General Method; William A. McKeever, 
Psychological Method in Teaching; B. A. Hinsdale, Teaching 
the Language Arts; Wilber H. Bender, The Teacher at Work; 
Arnold Thompkin's School Management; Hughes Mistakes in 
Teaching; John W. Dinsmore, Teaching A District School. 



PREFACE. 

After thirty-five years of active service in the schoolroom, 
the writer has thought it befitting to crown his work with a book 
giving some of his experiences to the pubHc. 

This is not done for the purpose of exploding some theory 
or saying some "wise" things, but merely to give some one who 
may wish to read them, the writer's varied experience in the 
schoolroom. 

One generation profits by the successes and failures of another; 
the son profits by the fortunes and misfortunes of the father. 
Each generation, each race, each son gets its first lessons or his 
first lessons from the one that precedes. 

Too, the author has two other purposes for sending this little 
book out to the public : One is that it may be a means of dropping 
a word here and there that may help some struggling young per- 
son to become a more acceptable teacher; the other is that some 
contribution to school literature may be made by the Negro 
teachers of Texas. 

This book is not sent out to proclaim that the writer was a 
great teacher, nor that he was a great success, but rather to say 
something which, we hope, may encourage and stimulate a 
struggling brother or sister in the work of teaching. 

In our treatment of this subject, we shall attempt to be original, 
therefore we do not aim to follow old, beaten paths in the dis- 
cussion of it, but we ask our readers to grant us special privileges 
in the execution of the book, and to look with no critical eye 
upon any departure from the usual custom of writers of School 
Government; for we are impressed that conditions which have 
influenced us during our work in various schools of the race, have 
been such as to call forth circumstances very peculiar and 
especially characteristic of Negro schools. 

In all the vocations in life, there are men and women who have 
made their way up the hill of fame or have achieved whatever 
success that has come to them, by dint of effort and not by 
fortune nor by accident. It is said that some people acquire 
fortune by inheritance; some, by having fortune thrust upon 
them; others, by hard work. 

The writer is, if anything at all, a humble representative of the 
latter class who has made his own way by his own efforts. Hav ■ 

(5) 



6 



Preface. 



ing a parentage whose best years were spent in the service of a 
master in the dark days of American slavery, he had nothing be- 
queathed to him but an iron will. With this birthright as a 
heritage he began his school days in the seventies, in the State 
of Alabama. 

He went from the cornfield to his first examination, having 
at that time never attended a day school. His first education 
was received at night, while he worked on the farm by day. His 
first lessons were learned as he plowed in the field, by laying his 
book on the fence at the end of the row and moving it from row 
to row as the plowing proceeded. 

The first examination over, he never returned to the field, but 
made teaching a profession — giving all of his time, both summer 
and winter, to the work of the preparation of himself or assisting 
others. 

Whether he has made a success, as a teacher, his patrons and 
pupils can attest after thirty-five years' service in Navarra 
county. 




CONTENTS. 

Introduction 9 

"Alphabet of Success" 14 

Chapter I. 

I Teaching School 15 

Chapter II. 

2. Some Racial Characteristics 17 

Chapter III, 
. 3, The Teacher and His Qualifications 19 

(a) Must be Innate 

(b) Must have Scholarship 

(c) Must be Self-Willed. 

(d) Must have Love for Humanity. 

(e) Must have Race Pride. 

(f) Should be a Christian. 

(g) Must have Common Sense, 
(h) Must be Industrious. 

(i) Must be Moral. 

Chapter IV. 
. 4. Conditions Affecting Education 30 

(a) The Environment of the People 

(b) The Home Life. 

(c) Education in the Home. 

(d) The School House. 

(e) The School Board and its Authority. 

(f) Parental Co-operation. 

(g) Mother's Clubs. 

Chapter V. 

.5. Government by the Teacher -- 45 

(a) Should be Moderate. 

(b) Should be Consistent. 

(c) Should be Unbiased. 

(d) Should be Wise. 

6. The Governed 49 

(a) His Environment. 

(b) The Study of the Child. 

(c) What to Teach the Negro Child. 

(d) Treatment of the Individual. 

(e) Incentives to Study. 

7. Coporal Punishment 71 

(a) Its Use. 

(b) Its Abuse. 

8. Discipline 76 

(a) In General — The Boy. 

(b) As to the Passing of Classes. 

(b) As to the Passing of Classes. 

(c) As to the Individual. 

(d) Yard Supervision. 



8 Contents. 

g. The Recitation 83 

(a) Teacher's Preparation. 
(h) Pupils' Preparation. 

(c) The Effects on the Life of the Student. 

(d) Special Ends. 

10. Fifty "Nevers" in the School Room 89 

Chapter VI. 

1 1 . The Daily Programme 90 

Chapter VII. 

1 2 . The Opening Exercises . 93 

Chapter VIII. 

13. The Rhetorical and Friday Afternoon 95 

Chapter IX. 

14. Musical Characteristics of the Race 98 

Chapter X. 

15. Classification, Impediments and Racial Comparisons 101 

Chapter XI. 

16. Language and Grammar 106 

Chapter XII. 

17. Reading — How to Teach Beginners 113 

Chapter XIII. 

18. Teaching Numbers 120 

(a) First Year. 

(b) Second Year. 

(c) Third Year. 

(d) Fourth Year. 

(e) Advanced Work. 

Chapter XIV. 

19. History — An Outline 136 

(a) Legendary. 

(b) Primary — Real. 

(c) Advanced. 

1. Written. 

2. L^nwritten. 

Chapter XV. 

20. Composition Lessons — How to Teach 141 

Chapter XVI. 

2 1 . Geography — When and How to Begin 146 

Chapter XVII. 

22. Some General Observations 151 

Chapter XVIII. 

23. Some Racial and School Statistics of Texas 154 

Chapter XIX. 

24. Some National Statistics 156 

Chapter XX. 

25. Some Teachers Who have Made Texas Schools a Success 159 



INTRODUCTION. 



The author of this work has put the public in debt to him for 
the purpose that inspired him; for the generous scope his in- 
vestigations have taken; for the painstaking in gathering, and 
the faithfulness in verifying the matter set forth; and for the 
elegant and exact English which throws the quality of real 
literature about the whole book and upon each page of it. 

The reader cannot be insensible to the double value of this 
volume; first, in that it is the only medium of the special informa- 
tion it contains, and, second, in that it is, on its subjective and 
psychological side, a significant indication of the activity and 
initiative of the Negro minds under the processes of the new 
education. Aside from what the author intends to tell of fact 
and history, of method and result, and of material and social 
product, he himself furnishes to the analytical mind some light 
as to the worth of sound training applied to earnest soul, no 
matter under what color of skin. 

The reader perusing the pages which follow will, therefore, 
not only imbibe statements and statistics; but will find himself 
drifting into such musings as this: Who is this author? What 
influences shaped him ? What schools equipped him ? What does 
he seek to accomplish? As part of a much discussed race, 
what is his point of view? and what his opinion of the future? 
Such interrogatories give personal point and pith to the great 
questions which we see being worked out before us in this won- 
derful nation. 

Texas has long stood pre-eminent in the sisterhood of States 
as having made the most generous provision for the education 
of her children, without discrimination as to their color or ante- 
cedents. 

With a foresight born of observing the experiences of other 
States in letting more immediate and material considerations 
crowd out sufficient provisions for the training of their young, 
Texas early set aside large tracts of her limitless prairies and 
woodland to form a basis for a princely endowment to her school 
system. 

For years these lands lay apparently without value, save for 
the grass they supplied the wild cattle and horses that roamed 

(9) 

2 • 



10 School-Room Helps. 



over them. The coyote and prairie dog hved fearless and free 
over a stretch of territory larger than that of most European 
countries. There was no selling value to these school lands, and 
the lease price was but nominal. In those days land was the 
cheapest thing in Texas, and almost any man would rather donate 
ten acres to charity than give one dollar in cash. 

The years wore on. Syndicates began to see a wealth in the 
soil offering gain greater than all the mines of Colorado and 
California. Texas wanted a new capitol, and these men offered 
to build it for a large tract of the cheap public lands. Out of 
this transaction the contractors made a score of millions of dol- 
ars, and Texans awoke to the wisdom of the fathers in setting 
aside this great endowment for the children. From this time 
the lands began to appreciate rapidly in values ; settlers in white- 
topped land schooners began to drift out from the old States and 
anchor their homestead over the hole of the prairie dog; the 
State began to convert its public acreage into cash, which went 
into the school fund, finding its way, in due time, into the build- 
ing fund of modern school houses, normal schools, universities 
and agricultural institutions; good teachers began to be at- 
tracted by the superior salaries paid; from Yale, from Howard, 
from Fisk, from Atlanta, from Oberlin, from Vanderbilt, from 
Washington and lyce they came, a weighty, enthusiastic, capable 
tide of men, black and white, seeking to sell their scholarship 
and training in the educational market that needed and ap- 
preciated them most. 

Meanwhile the transmutation of dirt into gold that fell con- 
tinuously into the coffers of the State went steadily on; the 
schoolhouses kept rising on the hills of county and city; the 
school masters kept coming, more in numbers and fuller in prep- 
aration, each provoking the other to better service, till to-day 
the Lone Star State stands queen among the galaxy for its 
wealth of school moneys and property distributed without in- 
vidious discrimination, and applied, as it should be, solely on 
the "per capita" basis. 

The heresy that education is a charity whose sole beneficiary 
is the recipient, while the State has sacrificed just so much without 
a quid pro quo, has never found lodgment in the minds of the 
law-makers of Texas. God grant that it never may! The justi- 
fication of the State school lies in the fact that the State has a 
right — yea, is under the necessity — to make good citizens instead 
of bad. Keener minds to see and quicker hearts to feel that 
another is entitled to all the rights and privileges we claim for 
ourselves, must come from the schools. The ignorant man will 
never understand it. Safety of life must come from an appre- 



Introduction. H 



ciation of the dignity of humanity everywhere, all the time and 
in any person. Security of property must arise from those 
clear perceptions of trained minds which cut through the casu- 
istry of communism and recognize the lines separating meum and 
teum. The exercise of legitimate liberty of action must come 
from the awakening of that moral sense, dormant in the ignorant, 
which perceives that where the least law is needed, the best 
people are found. 

Out of the crux of such training as this any people may con- 
fidently expect to see arise the highest happiness, the whitest 
virtue and the noblest lives. 

The mistaken policy that would fetter a man's freedom to 
grow in the thought world and develop to the fullest his mental 
and spiritual powers has been responsible for most of the back- 
wardness of the South. It requires no philosopher to under- 
stand that the man who gives up his time to holding another man 
down in the mud, will himself get muddy. Neither can we re- 
press the upward tendencies of a brother's mind and soul without 
finding our own conceptions of life lowered and our own moral 
stature dwarfed. It is the consciousness of this truth, however 
phrased, that has so far led the most far-seeing statesmen of 
Texas to combat the efforts of reactionaries to limit the Negroes' 
educational fund to his own taxes. 

A distinguished Texan in a heated campaign for gubernatorial 
honors a few years ago adopted as his slogan, "Turn Texas 
loose!" He lost his personal aim, but that slogan, once intended 
for political effect, has survived and taken on a deeper meaning. 
It means with us now that no obstacle should be put in the way 
of any man, so long as it is development and growth he seeks; 
it means that the leading factor in every achievement is un- 
hampered effort and unhindered opportunity for every worker, 
white and black; it means that higher education leads to higher 
wants, higher wants call for larger commerce and larger com- 
merce means wider wealth and a richer State. The logic is too 
apparent for longer discussion. 

And even if it could be sustained in the forum of expediency 
that the Negro educationally should be limited to his own taxes 
those who favor this will be greatly surprised to be told that 
under such an arrangement, equitably administered, the Negro 
would receive more money than he now receives. 

No sound political economist will dispute the established prin- 
ciple that labor pays the taxes, and no Texan will deny that the 
600,000 Negroes of the State, about one-fifth of our whole State 
population, do more than one-fifth of the productive labor. The 



12 School-Room Helps. 



real basis for special Negro taxation, therefore, if men intend to be 
fair, would not be the peoperty owned by labor, but the property 
produced by labor, no matter in whose hands the title lies. 

Added to this consideration is the fact that the Negro's in- 
direct taxes, such as liquor licenses, fines and other funds arising 
by reason of his contributions to the general revenues, including 
the sale and leasing of the public lands, would have to be added 
to his share of labor productivity and titular ownership of real 
and personal property. 

It is because these things are true that the real statesmen of 
Texas have refused to listen to the siren song of the tax separa- 
tionist. 

It is also because sound political economy is against him that 
the separationist must be taken to be either insincere or shallow 
in his contention. Neither horn of the dilemma is exalting to 
him. 

This is no time for backward steps, when mighty cities are 
crowding back farms for more factory room, when farmers are 
cutting up ranches, and when irrigation is speaking life into barren 
sands. It is no time for race conflicts or confusion, when "the 
long pull, the strong pull and the pull all together" is needed to 
land our great State in the lead which smaller States have usurped 
by reason of united action. It is no time for invidious treat- 
ment of loyal and law-abiding citizens, when higher intelligence 
among all the people is the first need of the State to give it 
proper weight in the national councils. 

No well informed man can fail to observe the solid and valuable 
service done by the colored teacher in the public schools of 
Texas. 

Just after the emancipation, Negro schools were taught by 
white missionaries from the North, mainly because there were 
no colored persons competent to teach. It was a rare thing to 
see one who could even write. 

At that time the present excellent system of public education 
had not been enacted. Popular education, in the very nature of 
the case, could exist concurrently with slavery; and it was not 
until the new citizens of color were brought into the body politic 
that the necessity of better educational provision became too 
imperative to be ignored. The safety of the nation, now all 
free, was involved. Experience had not yet, however, pointed 
out the best way, and in the interim the Freedman's Bureau ad- 
ministered the educational affairs of the Negroes. To this very 
day, there are grounds and buildings dedicated to Negro educa- 
tion standing in various Texas cities, given by the national Bu- 
reau. This is notably true of Austin and Waco, 



Introduction. 13 



Later, came the public school system as we have it now. It 
is not too much to say that it is the chief glory of the State to-day. 

I am not called on in this Introduction to discuss the excel- 
lent record that the colored teachers have made since the ad- 
vancement of the race made colored teachers possible; that has 
been set forth by the author of this book with splendid force and 
detail. 

It must not escape mention, however, that, in addition to the 
general system found in counties and cities, the State has pro- 
vided for the normal and industrial education of its colored youth 
at the Prairie View Normal and Industrial College; and for our 
defective classes at the Deaf, Dumb and Blind Asylum of Austin. 
Both of these excellent institutions are in their internal, tutelary 
and disciplinary features, exclusively under Negro management, 
though their business affairs are managed by white Boards. The 
time will come when the Negro will be given recognition on these 
Boards also, whenever the State is convinced that the business 
faculties of the Negro have been sufficiently developed and dis- 
played. 

That this work, so courageously begun and executed by Prof. 
Jackson may become standard in its field and a vade mecum to 
the educators of Texas and the nation, is the earnest wish of an 
ex- teacher in the State. 

H. Tp. KEALING. 



ALPHABET OF SUCCESS. 



Attend carefully to detail. 

Be prompt in all things. 

Consider well, then decide positively. 

Dare to do right; fear to do wrong. 

Endure trials patiently. 

Fight life's battles bravely. 

Go not into the society of the vicious. 

Hold your integrity sacred. 

Injure not another's reputation. 

Join hands only with the virtuous. 

Keep your mind free from evil thoughts. 

Lie not for any consideration. 

Make few special acquaintances. 

Never try to appear what you are not. 

Observe good manners. 

Pay your debts promptly. 

Question not the veracity of a friend. 

Respect the desires of your parents. 

Sacrifice money rather than principle. 

Touch not, taste not, handle not intoxicant drinks. 

Use your leisure for improvement. 

Venture not upon the threshold of wrong. 

Watch carefully over your passions. 

Xtend everyone a kindly greeting. 

Yield not to discouragements. 

Zealously labor for right and success is certain. 

From "Thoughts That Inspire. 



(14) 



CHAPTER I. 



I. TEACHING SCHOOL. 



The profession of teaching is crowded at the bottom and not 
at the top. It is Hke any other profession, since people enter 
it with a view of making a hveUhood. It is crowded because 
the conditions for entering it are easy and the remuneration for 
service is greater than that of the ordinary avocations of Hfe. 

Teaching is not an ordinary vocation. It has been made ordinary 
by misuse. We mean that on account of the prevaiHng custom 
of allowing anyone and everyone to try teaching without proper 
preparation, anybody can try it and everybody does try it. 

The custom is wrong, to say the least about it, because teaching 
is one of the most important vocations in which man can engage. 
The work is divine ; it is Christlike. 

To educate a soul is no little task, and it should be undertaken 
with fear and trembling. The fault is not in the person enter- 
ing the calling, for it may be said that fools will enter where 
angels dare not tread, if they are permitted to enter. 

The entering should be conditional. Persons entering the 
profession ought to be required to meet the conditions before 
they are employed. As is now the custom, there is a condition 
upon which persons are employed, and many meet the conditions 
that are employed. 

The trouble is the American standard is too low. Any person, 
with little or no preparation, is allowed in this country to teach. 
No wonder so many people are spoiled in the schoolroom. 
Many people are ruined as the child ruins his mud baby as it 
plays in the sand, and then makes another one to ruin. 

Many of our schools in charge of persons poorly prepared or 
without adaptability, may be compared to playhouses where 
children try their skill in making mud images for fun. 

It is said that these conditions do not exist in Germany, where 
persons desiring to teach are required to make special prepara- 
tion and to show special adaptability for teaching before they 
can enter the profession. Such a condition in practice in this 
country, would close many of our schools and send the "pro- 

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16 School- Room Helps. 



fessor" to the cotton-field or to some more congenial avocation. 

That teaching is a laudable profession, every one will agree, 
but why the profession is not dignified and placed upon higher 
grounds, is a question that can be answered by the reader when 
he is reminded that in this country, "where ignorance is bliss, 
'tis folly to be wise." 

Let us gather from the foregoing discussion, one thought which 
underlies all else, and that is the lack of preparation on the part 
of those employed to teach, will warrant a corresponding de- 
ficiency in the child taught. 

Good teachers make good pupils. We mean good in the sense 
as scholars. If the scholarship of the child depends upon his 
master, (and there is no question on this score), it goes without 
saying, the master must be what he desires the child to be. There 
may be some excuses for the teachers of Afro-American schools, 
when one is reminded that their ancestry came out from under 
the yoke of slavery, which precluded the possibility of their edu- 
cation. This excuse has been rendered for forty-six years with 
proper consideration and allowances for previous condition, but 
there cannot be two standards of education for people who live 
under similar institutions in this country. There must be but 
one standard by which we judge the scholar, whether he be black 
or white. It follows, therefore, that schools of Negro children 
in this country must have the same kind of teachers as the schools 
of the other races, since the standard of education requires the 
same branches taught. (The inference here, of course, is to 
quality of education, and not to race or color). 

The former standards, on account of previous conditions, (the 
old excuses for poor teachers), should now give way to thorough 
preparation on the part of both teacher and pupil. 

Summary : — 

I — The profession of teaching is crowded at the bottom. 
. 2 — Teaching is not an ordinary vocation. 
3 — The custom is wrong. 
4 — Entering school should be conditioned. 
5— Let us gather from the foregoing discussion. 
6 — Good teachers make good pupils. 
7 — The Negro school must have same kinds of teachers as 

other races. 
8 — The former standards on account of previous conditions, 

should now give way. 



CHAPTER II. 



II. SOME RACIAL CHARACTERISTICS, 



All races have their characteristics, and the Negro race is no 
exception to the rule. The teachers of the Negro race have diffi- 
culties to overcome which do not confront the white teachers. In 
the beginning of this book it may not be out of place to point out 
a few of these difficulties in order that the difference between the 
problems of the one race and the other may be seen., What is 
meant here by characteristics, may not be defined as strictly as 
Webster defines it, but we mean in a loose sense, characteristics 
which belong to the Negro race and to no other — or habits, cus- 
toms, manners, eccentricities wholly its own. Some of these 
characteristics which belong wholly to the race, are founded in 
ignorance, we must confess, but they are, nevertheless, character- 
istics of the Negro race. 

All races in their crude stage, have shown signs of savagery, 
and the lower down in civilization the race is found, the more 
numerous and apparent these features appear. Some critics 
may object to the prominence given the racial characteristics in 
this connection, but why object to the truth which will exist not- 
withstanding there is objection to its discussion? The Indian is 
treacherous, sluggish, lazy, sly, revengeful, even after he has 
undergone a process of education. It may be said with equal 
truth, that the Negro is covetous, jealous, envious; character- 
istics which may be seen in some individuals of the race after 
they are educated and refined. The teachers, therefore have to 
spend much of their time in trying to lead pupils out of their 
original selves into new selves, divested of the superstitions of 
the past. 

What is said in this connection of the Afro-American, may be 
said with equal truth of other races, but this does not rob the 
subject of its direct application to the race under discussion. 
There are other characteristics of the race which we shall not at- 
tempt to discuss at length, but shall only mention a few of them. 

The characteristics of speech inherent in the individuals of the 
race by reason of his long years of parental contact and training 

(17) 



18 School- Room Helps. 



under years of slavery, and the peculiar customs of worship 
which education is slow in changing, are characteristics which 
are his by inheritance, and they will be his as long as there is dis- 
tinction between races. Races differ in their customs and man- 
ners in proportion to the education and training they receive, 
and in the case of the Negro, the differences which are not favor- 
able to him may be attributed wholly to the education and train- 
ing which he has received through many generations. 

The fact is, the Afro-American teacher has much to contend 
with that is antagonistic to the spirit of the education he teaches. 
In other words, the Negro teacher has to attempt to undo in the 
schoolroom a mixed jargon which he finds in the pupils' posses- 
sion when they enter school. 

Summary : — 

I — All races differ in characteristics. 

2 — Definition of characteristic. 

3 — All races once in the crude stage. 

4 — Critics may object. 

5 — The Indian and the Negro. 

6 — Truth applied to others. 

7 — Parental contact. 

8 — Differ in education and training. 

9 — Afro- American teacher has much to contend. 




CHAPTER III. 



HI. THE TEACHER AND HIS QUALI- 
FICATIONS. 



In the first chapter we touched on the kind of teacher that 
should be engaged in teaching the schools of the race, and in this: 
chapter we shall attempt to develop more fully the idea of qualifi- 
cation in the school teacher. 

Teaching school was one of the first of the many professions to 
be sought after by the first crop of scholars who received some 
education soon after emancipation. The fact that the race had 
just emerged from slavery and was then entering upon a new life, 
encumbered with a great mass of ignorance, made it necessary 
to draw on all available teaching force that could be called into 
service. Everybody that could red,d and write, became teacher 
for his less fortunate brother. Few of these teachers who entered 
the first schools after emancipation, could be classed as scholars, 
or who could be considered even in possession of other than or- 
dinary education. Education among the newly emancipated 
race was a new thing, and if one was found in possession of more 
than the rudiments of education, he was paraded and lauded as 
the wonder of the community. 

This condition of the race was the result of many centuries of 
illiteracy. Time has caused many changes in the racial life, and 
education and moral uplift have gone hand in hand with the up- 
ward trend of that life. Teachers of the race are now judged by 
what they know as other teachers are judged. 

We would prescribe for the true teacher the following qualifica- 
tions : (a) Qualifications must be innate, (6) Must have scholarship, 
(c) Must have self-will, (d) Must have race pride, (e) Must have 
love for humanity (/) Must be a Christian, (g) Must have common 
sense, (h) Must be industrious, (i) Must have moral character. 

(a). — That a teacher is born, not made, is a proposition gener- 
ally accepted. There are many persons, however, trying to teach 
who are not born to teach. They are engaged in a work that is 
not theirs by adaptation or by innate fitness. But who is to be 
the judge as to the qualifications of the applicant for the teacher's 

(19) 



20 School- Room Helps. 



position? It is hardly supposed that the applicant would pass 
adversely upon himself, for if so, the schoolhouse janitorship 
would get some of the candidates who try teaching, or the farm 
would be supplied with competent hands. 

Mr. Dinsmore, in his book on Teaching, puts some very serious 
and decisive questions to the young teacher, as the following will 
show: "Is my character such as to justify me in choosing the pro- 
fession of teaching? Are my habits of life fit to be an example 
for those who would be my pupils? Do I intend to keep myself 
free from all the vices that contaminate? Do I love righteous- 
ness and prefer to associate with the righteous people?" These 
and many other questions put by Mr. Dinsmore, are vital and 
should be put to every young person who thinks to make teaching 
a profession. The qualifications requisite for teaching, should be 
the first consideration in the selection of a teacher, and it should 
be held in mind that education in books is not the only qualifica- 
tion. Teachers are not made, we repeat; they are born. Educa- 
tion, while it is very essential, only brightens and enlightens the 
individual and does for him what the sculptor does for the crude 
piece of marble which he carves into a beautiful image. The es- 
sential qualities are hidden under the accumulations of a powerful 
exterior. So is the gold which is found imbedded under a thou- 
sand feet of mother earth; so is the diamond which is wrapped up 
in a hundred thousand fathoms of rubbish. 

In controverting the idea that teachers are born, not made, it 
is often maintained that it takes education after all to prepare 
the individual for his work, and that were it not for this refining 
process, the individual would not, could not be fitted for the work. 
Truly so, but polishing the individual who has no natural ability 
may be compared to the refiner's process upon the piece of metal. 
The more he polishes, the more the metal shines; and as long as 
he polishes, so long the shining. Expose the metal to the atmos- 
phere and the sun, and soon the shining will cease and corroding 
will take place. 

Let us sum up what we have said in these lines : 
I — The first crop of teachers. 
2 — Education among the newly emancipated. 
3 — Time has caused many changes. 
4 — Teachers are born. 
5 — Who is to be the judge? 
6 — Mr. Dinsmore. 
7 — The first consideration. 
8 — The essentials hidden. 
9 — It is often maintained that education fits. 
ID — The refining process. 



The Teacher and His Qualifications. 21 

(b). SCHOLARSHIP. 

That it is necessary to the success of an individual that he goes 
to school and gets book learning, goes without argument. Before 
the book can be understood, it must be studied. Before a per- 
son can teach Arithmetic and Grammar, he must learn how to 
solve the problems in Arithmetic, and to analyze the sentences 
in Grammar. Before Reading can be taught, the individual 
must know how to read. So it goes without saying, that prepara- 
tion comes before teaching. The point we wish to impress here 
is that real scholarship is necessary. 

Superficial education, we again maintain, was excusable in the 
first teachers who entered the schools, but not in the present day 
pupils who are blessed with all the advantages of a modern civili- 
zation. 

It is now expected that young men and women looking forward 
to entering the teacher's profession, will commence preparation 
from the primary grades. This is to say that the teachers of a 
race must have whatever training that is to be handed down to 
posterity. In all the colleges and universities of to-day, the 
students have held out to them the very best examples of former 
scholars — the great teachers of the past. The Afro-American 
as well as others, must prepare scholars to fill important profes- 
sorships in all the professions. There are capable students in all 
of the schools that should be encouraged to follow up the higher 
branches of learning and become masters in the same, if for no 
other reason than to be the teachers of the race. No one as be- 
fore mentioned, can hope to be a teacher of the young, who is 
himself ignorant of the subject to be taught. Someone has said 
that it is possible to teach a subject without first having; a knowl- 
edge of it. This is to say that a teacher may so lead a pupil to 
habits of study and research that he, the pupil, may be inspired 
and urged on to discover for himself hidden truths. In such a 
case, the teacher may have given the impetus or inspiration, but 
the learner made the discovery for himself. 

Let it be preached on the housetop, in the valley, and labelled 
upon the breast of the young — that scholarship is wanted of 
every Negro youth that enters the schoolroom. 



(c). SELF-WILL. 

In this connection is meant his own will, ""^t takes strong wills 
to govern others. Not a toy to become the sport of circumstances ; 
not a will to be changed at every angle in the road, nor with 
the variations of the wind ; but a will that bends with reason and 
with sympathy. A teacher who has a will that cannot be changed 
and tempered with reason, is a dangerous personage, to say the 



22 School- Room Helps. 



least of him. Such a person may be compared to Herod, who 
decreed the half of his kingdom to his daughter, but could not 
change the decree when he found that it included the head of 
John the Baptist. There are extremes either way we turn, for a 
teacher with no will, is in danger of being so easily moved that 
he finds himself the sport of circumstances; while the person 
whose will is obdurate and stubborn, falls into the error of the 
man who never saw any reason for ever changing his mind, once 
made up to act in a certain direction. The teacher should strive 
to reach, if possible, the happy medium where reason reigns su- 
preme. 

The person who promises to flog all twenty-five of the members 
of a class for failure to prepare a lesson, and proceeds to carry out 
his promise when he finds that two-thirds of the class have 
failed, is as far wrong as the person who made a promise and for- 
got, purposely, that he made the promise. 

The will is the man. If the will is weak, the man is weak. The 
teacher that has a will which he can bend to suit conditions, is 
one that can handle his school without much trouble. The man 
without a will is like a ship without a rudder: Its sailing is aim- 
less ; its port is the wide and storm-tossed sea. 

Summary (b): 

I — The book must be learned. 

2 — Superficial education of the past. 

3 — Afro-American teachers must prepare scholars. 

4 — Is it possible to teach a subject without knowing it? 

5 — Let it be preached on the housetop. 

Summary (c) : 

I — It takes strong will. 

2 — A dangerous person. 

3 — May be compared to Herod. 

4 — There are extremes. 

5 — The happy medium, 

6 — The person who promises floggings 

7 — Will is the man. 

(d). MUST HAVE LOVE FOR HUMANITY. 

A cold and frozen personage in the school room is undesirable, 
to say the least. A teacher should possess a spark of love for the 
children under his care, or he should seek the vocation where his 
heart is; the teacher that can love children, will find that he has 
many little lovers among his children. As a parent loves her 
child and expresses this love in her constant relation with the 



The Teacher and His Qualifications. 23 

child, so the teacher in his constant relation with the children 
should be so kind and loving in his relations with the pupils that 
they woiild learn to love the teacher as a second parent. 

It is said that the teacher is "in Loco parentis," but the child can 
soon find out whether this saying is an actual reality as it becomes 
acquainted with a teacher that possesses the attributes of his 
loving ancestry or those of a scolding maniac. 

Some teachers are mistaken in their idea of handling children. 
They are impressed with the idea that their office or position in 
the school room calls for ironclad rules and Czarocratic govern- 
ment. If their demands are not given imperatively, and their 
requests with the air of a king, they do not believe they are ful- 
filling their divine mission. 

We believe this is a mistaken idea as to the mission of the teach- 
er in his relation to the children. A government that is admin- 
istered in love and tempered with justice, is the kind of govern- 
ment which adults are striving at all times to maintain. The 
teacher that enters the schoolroom in the morning with a stern 
look, or a frown on her brow, commences the day's work with- 
out a word of greeting to those fifty little, weary, rollicking tots, 
will engender in the hearts of those children the same passivity 
of feelings as they have learned from the teacher by coming in 
daily contact with her. The teacher is a model, a copy which 
those fifty tots are imitating daily. The life of the teacher is 
being copied by the children each moment of the day. 

lyove begets love. That bad boy and that bad girl whose lives 
have been made rough and rude by the treatment at home of a 
heartless parent, will learn to love the teacher who shows by kind- 
ness, any interest in them. Some children are reared under the 
influence of the lash, or under the roof of a bawling maniac or a 
scolding panther, and the change from such a home to the care of 
a gentle and loving teacher, will often melt a heart of stone. Love 
is as necessary an attribute in the success of a teacher, as sunshine 
is to the growth of a plant. There is much difference also in 
children reared under these different influences. One child is 
rough, rude, boisterous in manners; while the other is gentle, 
sweet, serene. The one is the combination of scoffs and kicks; 
the other is the growth and outcome of congenial relations. 

We believe in coercion when this element is necessary to good 
government, but mere coercion in the schoolroom is a form of 
barbarity or a relic of by-gone days. Negro children must be 
trained out of the influence of the past, into the feelings and man- 
ners of the present day. 



24 School-Room Helps. 



(e). MUST HAVE RACE PRIDE. 

Every race should cultivate in its members, race pride. That 
race which possesses in a high degree, love for itself, is one that 
grows in power and intelligence. A teacher of Afro- American 
extraction, should teach race pride, as is the custom with other 
race variety. The Negro child has to be trained in all that it 
takes to make good citizenship, and its training, for the most 
part, is obtained in the schoolroom. It is somewhat deplorable 
to note that a great many Negro children are growing up without 
the training of a father; but many of the mothers, having been 
separated from the husbands, which custom dates back to servi- 
tude, are trying to rear and educate their children themselves. 
The child, therefore, is thrown largely upon the charity of the 
world, and in many cases, it grows up without the care of either 
mother or father. Such a child is almost void of any race pride 
or any love for its own people. 

Race pride is not altogether trained into a people; it is rather 
born in them. The Caucasian race has had years of training in 
all the elements which go to make up a strong race, for this race 
can look back to the days of the rise of Greece and Rome, when 
their ancestry roamed upon the banks of the Tiber and Euphrates 
and sported upon the plains of the Jordan. They can boast of 
the bravery and daring of Caesar, of the oratory of Cicero and 
Cataline, and of the great achievements of Cyrus and of Alex- 
ander. They can point their students to the world's famous 
heroes whose deeds dot the pages of history in a thousand places. 
The history of the world is teeming with instances which point the 
student to noble deeds and manly action. All that there is to 
teach, all that there is to inspire, all that there is to hope for, all 
that there is in life, is painted upon the canvas in letters of gold 
of the work of former generations, and the teacher of the Caucas- 
ian child has little to do but to trace the "footprints on the sands 
of time." 

The way is not so plain to the Afro-American child. The 
teacher of such a child can point to the fact that out of one blood, 
God created all nations, and what one man has done, all men 
have a chance to do. No race has a patent on achievements. 
God has so arranged in the divine economy that any man who 
tries, may win the prize which is offered the diligent student. 
The Afro-American teacher may not be able to point to a line of 
great men in all ages of the world, but he can point to the birth- 
right that is his by inheritance; he can point to the deeds of the 
newly emancipated race, whose history though short, is spark- 
ling with many examples of noble men and worthy women. The 
Negro boy and girl should be taught that it does not take white 



The Teacher and His Qualifications. 25 



skin, nor straight hair to win fame and get to heaven; but that 
the black-skinned, kinky-haired boy has the same chance, and 
that God looks on the heart and not on the skin., nor the texture 
of the hair. The teacher of such a child should be so imbued, so 
inspired with the possibilities of the race, that nothing daunted, 
he will lead his children to see and feel that success comes to him 
who waits — be he black or white. 

Such a teacher should be so inspired with the spirit of race 
pride, that he will lead his children over the wall of prejudice 
which racial conditions have set up, into a realization of the pos- 
sibilities which await the faithful student. We believe the Afro- 
American teacher should feel a pride in pointing out to his chil- 
dren what the race is doing as farmers, as men of the professions, 
as merchants, as men of all avocations. Such a teacher, engaged 
thus, will soon change the old condition of things and instill in 
the minds of the young, love for home, for parents, for church, for 
school, for race and for self. 

Summary (e) : 

I — Every race should cultiva:te race pride. 

2 — Teacher of the race. 

3 — The Negro child has to be trained. 

4 — Race pride is born in a people. 

5 — The Caucasian race. 

6 — All this is to teach. 

7 — It is not so plain to the Negro child. 

8 — God has created all men out of one blood. 

9 — -Can't point to deeds of newly emancipated race, 
lo — ^The Negro boy and girls should be taught. 
1 1 — The teacher of such a race. 
1 2 — Teacher engaged thus. 

(f). SHOULD BE A CHRISTIAN. 

This is a Christian nation, and teachers who are employed to 
teach in the schools of the country, ought to be believers at least 
in the Christian religion. The idea of teaching your own doctrine 
is beautifully carried out by the Catholic Church, the Israelites 
and the Mohammedans, neither of whom would trust the teach- 
ing and training of their children to teachers of other denomina- 
tions. 

The Constitution of the United States is free and liberal with 
the people when it dictates to no man what opinion he should hold 
or under what banner of politics he should serve. This is all right 
in theory and it looks beautiful on paper, but in practice the spirit 
of the people is not so. The people believe in practicing what you 



26 School- Room Helps. 



preach; the people believe in teaching the doctrine of their re- 
ligion to their children. We do not refer to denominational doc- 
trine, but the doctrine of the Christ under whose banner the na- 
tion is now fighting. In proof of this idea, the nation calls into 
question the religion of all the candidates for presidential honors 
in this country — especially when there is a doubt as to what re- 
ligious opinion the candidate holds. It is a question whether a 
candidate holding an opinion at variance with the accepted or- 
thodox of the country, could ever become the Chief Executive of 
this nation. The idea therefore prevails that the leaders must be 
Christians. We believe a teacher should be a believer in the doc- 
trine of Christianity in order to be a teacher indeed. 

A teacher who believes in the doctrine of the Christian re- 
ligion will teach in the light of that religion, and the children under 
his instruction will grow in the knowledge of that doctrine. 

Denominationalism is dangerous in the school room, and it 
should not be tolerated in the public schools. A teacher that 
believes in Christianity will teach his pupils the evils of Sabbath 
breaking, of lying, or stealing, of cheating, of immorality and all 
other evils instead of teaching that there is no God, or that there 
is no hell, or discoursing on predestination. The teacher that is 
a Christian will teach by example as well as by precept. On the 
Sabbath, he will spend his time in Sunday School, or he will go to 
church as an example for his pupils instead of spending the day in 
revelry or in sport. 

(g). MUST HAVE COMMON SENSE. 

Above all, the one element essential to success in the school- 
room as elsewhere, is the element of Common Sense. Education 
with all its accomplishments, is almost barren if the possessor is 
void of common sense. In fact, I have seen persons possessed 
of splendid scholarship and embellished with all the culture 
which the schools can give, but minus this element — hence a per- 
fect failure in the schoolroom. Indeed, such a person is not a 
success as a citizen. This is to say that he who is not discreet 
in the management of the common affairs of life, is a failure, or 
he who cannot do the common things of life well, is likely to 
make a wreck in the handling of these things. A teacher who 
knows how to work an example in Algebra, or prove a theorem 
in Geometry, but does not know how to treat a parent with cour- 
tesy nor how to apologize to a pupil for mistreating him or mis- 
judging him, nor how to treat a member of the School Board 
when he visits the schoolroom, nor how to reply courteously to a 
request made by his pupils, is really unfit to be delegated the des- 
tinies of the children. 



The Teacher and His Qualifications. 27 

We need scholarship and other qualifications in the teacher, 
but we especially need a person with balanced head, and that 
head filled with real common sense. Sense in common things is 
what is called common sense. 



(h). MUST BE INDUSTRIOUS. 

That a teacher should be industrious in the schoolroom, goes 
without argument, since the schoolroom is the place where the 
youth should be taught to work diligently upon whatever task is 
assigned to him. Too, the teacher must set the example in indus- 
try as well as in other things. Children should be taught to 
work in this day of fast going. It used to be a humiliation for a 
teacher to be seen at work with anything else than his books. It 
was then that teachers were taught to wear kid gloves and teach 
children, and not be caught doing manual labor. We rejoice in 
the fact that the time has come when it is almost a disgrace to 
find a teacher who is afraid to work with his hands as assiduously 
as with his brain. The purpose of this chapter, however, is not to 
dwell so much on manual labor, as on the teacher's setting the 
example of industry in the schoolroom. It is said, "Like teacher, 
like pupil." A lazy indolent teacher will give the same disease 
to the children, who are naturally inclined to imitate him in all 
his ways. 

The teacher should be industrious in the sense of being busy 
with the class work from the time he enters the school room in the 
morning, till he leaves in the afternoon. The teacher who enters 
the class room in the morning, and falls down in his chair and re- 
miains there until the noon recess, is not an example of industry. 
In a primary school this is almost impossible; that is, it is almost 
impossible for a primary teacher to do satisfactory work by re- 
maining seated until the bell rings her up for dinner, or announces 
to her that it is time to go home. 

The industrious teacher spends much time among his pupils, 
looking after the timid and backward, as well as the brave and in- 
dustrious. The teacher is always the model after which the pu- 
pil draws the pattern. Someone has said that the teacher is im- 
pressing himself upon the pupils, even on the play-ground, and 
in the schoolroom, when he is not teaching. The awful presence 
of the teacher upon the minds of the pupils, is sufficient to make 
a lasting impression upon this youthful plasticity. If the teacher 
is indolent and sloven in his work, the example is impressed upon 
some life, and fastened upon it, till it is seen full grown in after 
years. 

Teaching by intuition is the teacher's daily work, whether he 
designs it or not. If he is a strong willed individual, if he is strong in 
character, or if he has private faults which he would have no ore 



28 School-Room Helps. 



know, then the little upturned faces that confront him every mo- 
ment of the day, will in some way discover the vital spot and 
appropriate it to themselves. The teacher, therefore, should be 
a perfect model of industry, neatness accuracy, morality and, 
indeed, whatever he hopes for his pupils. 

(i). MUST BE MORAL. 

Of all the attributes that should characterize the life of a teach- 
er or preacher, there is none more essential than morality. As 
was mentioned in the above chapter, this element should be the 
ground work of the entire superstructure. As is the heart of a 
piece of stone, so is the stone. Build your house of materials that 
are unsound, and soon the structure will give way, and your house 
become a pile of ruin and decay. 

The children who are to become the future generation, ought 
to have first of all, the best examples of all that it takes to make 
life worth living. It is strange to say, however, that we too often 
find theVnan, who should be the model man, who is to lay the foun- 
dation for coming generations, the worst of all models. It is too 
often the case that a drunken sot occupies the chair of the school 
teacher, and is teaching children how to work their way into a 
saloon, or up an alley where he may join with others of his type in 
devouring the contents of a flask of the famous "Hill and Hill " 
Too often, it is the case where the occupant of the teacher's 
chair is a seducer of the character of one of his own pupils, and 
is guilty of debauching and wrecking the lives of the innocent 
ones intrusted to his care and keeping. 

Too often it can be said that the man who occupies this exalted 
station is leading his pupils to the crap games and other polluted 
employment to the degradation of himself and school. 

No man should be allowed to enter the schoolroom whose 
moral character is not strong enough to permit him to set the 
proper example before his pupils. 

The teacher holds the same exalted place in the schoolroom as 
the preacher holds before his flock. The latter is, in the true 
sense, a spiritual and moral leader of all the people in the com- 
munity, both saint and sinner; the former is the leader of the 
young, and is therefore responsible to God and man for the ex- 
amples he sets before the youth. The teacher of Afro-American 
schools has a great responsibility in this line, and he should enter 
the work only after having seriously weighed the matter. 

The missionary who goes to Africa and labors among the hea- 
then, should first count up the cost; he should first estimate the 
cost of a soul. "What does it cost to lead all the heathen under 
my charge down to ruin?" "What kind of example must I set 
to enable me to influence the lives of all under my charge?" 



The Teacher and His Qualifications. 29 

"Can I live a dual life with some of my pupils, and still be a 
means of lifting them up?" These are some of the questions that 
a missionary should ask himself, and that are applicable to any 
teacher who thinks he is called to teach young. 

We close this topic with a warning to the young teacher to fol- 
low the advice of Mr. Dinsmore, as indicated under the first 
topic in this chapter. It is a fearful thing to select for a life's 
work the profession that belongs to another. Many of us have 
heard the call intended for another better prepared than we to 
take up the work. The manly thing to do is to relinquish your 
claim, even though late, and get at something else more suited to 
your predilections. 

Summary (f ) — (i) : 

I — A Christian nation. 

2 — The Constitution of the U. S. 

3 — What the people believe in. 

4 — A teacher should be a believer in Christianity. 

5 — Will teach by example. 

6 — Education without common sense. 

7 — A teacher who knows how to work. 

8 — Algebra or Geometry. 

9 — We need common sense more than anything else. 
lo — Teacher should set the example for Industry. 
II — The purpose of this topic. 

12 — The industrious spends much time among pupils. 
13 — The indolent and sloven. 
14 — Teaching by intuition. 
15 — Should be a perfect model. 

16 — Morals essential in life of teacher and preacher, 
17 — Future generation. 
18 — The worst of all 
19 — Drunken sots. 
20 — A seducer, a crap shooter. 
21 — Exalted place of teacher and preacher. 
21 — ^The great responsibility. 
23 — The Missionary to Africa. 
24 — -Closing observation. 



CHAPTER IV. 



IV. CONDITIONS AFFECTING EDUCA- 
TION AMONG AFRO-AMERICANS. 



(a). THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE PEOPLE. 

In all countries, and among all people, during all times, educa- 
tion has been affected by the conditions under which the people 
live. The dark ages of the world which enveloped all civiliza- 
tion that man had acquired at the time Rome had reached her 
zenith in power and splendor, were the result of the condition of 
the minds of the people. The barbarian invasions and the con- 
sequent engagement of the Romans gave no time for the cultiva- 
tion of the minds, and hence their institutions were neglected, 
their national treasury depleted, their schools closed, and their 
school masters sent home to remain one thousand years. 

The coming of the Pilgrim fathers to the shores of New England 
was evidence of their troubles — the consequence of revolutions in 
their native land, and the knowledge of the fact that they had 
come to a new country where civilization had not begun, multi- 
plied their ills and increased their sorrows. Weighted down with 
the cares of their new environment, they had no time to engage 
in writing books, nor even to establish schools for the education 
of their children. Their time was taken in hunting and preparing 
food to sustain the body and in fighting the natives who infested 
their way and thus hindred their progress. There was no time 
for schools, no time for investigation, no time for mental de- 
velopment. It was simply a life and death struggle in a new 
country, where civilized men were few and where the natives 
preyed upon the newcomers as the latter preyed upon the wild 
beasts of the forest. 

So every people at certain times in their history, are made the 
sport of circumstances. As with the Romans when the barbar- 
ians swooped down upon them, as with the Pilgrim Fathers in 
their early settlement in this country, so it has been with the Ne- 
gro in the beginning of his national life in this country. With 
the advent of his emancipation came difficulties and conditions 

(30) 



Conditions Affecting Education Among Afro- Americans . 31 

which made education and civilization hard, and the emancipated 
people have become heirs of many ills as a consequence. This 
is to say that his way has not been strewn with flowers, nor has 
his bed been made with downy feathers. 

Peculiar conditions have surrounded the education of the Ne- 
gro in this country, and in consequence, his advancement has not 
been as rapid as it might have been, had circumstances been dif- 
ferent. In order to clear up some of these statements which 
carry with them vagueness, let us discuss some of these condi- 
tions which existed when slavery's chains were cut and the bond- 
man became free. The education of the freedman was hindered 
for many reasons : — 

First, the minds of the people were divided as to the wisdom 
of the government in turning loose the slaves of the owners who 
had invested all their fortunes in them; second, the people were 
divided in opinion as to the wisdom of attempting to educate the 
Negro, which was an experiment, hence there was much contro- 
versy and doubt about it; third, some of the former masters were 
inimical and antagonistic to any attempts to educate this new 
citizen, and they were reluctant to offer any assistance in this 
direction till sentiment changed in favor of the civilization of the 
masses; fourth, there was a very pessimistic view taken by many 
people at this time, as to whether the Negro was capable of ac- 
quiring higher education. 

Some argued that he was capable of mastering the rudiments 
of education, some that he was not docile or teachable at all, and 
that attempts to educate him would prove futile. Some took a 
more optimistic view and held that the freedman was capable of 
learning from any point of view, and that time would prove their 
position. The latter class of thinkers and advocates has tri- 
umphed and hence established the fact that without doubt, God 
has created all men out of the same blood. 

This condition of the minds of the people at the close of the 
civil struggle, made education for the Negro slow, though he 
went after it with an anxiety equal to the rapacity of the lion after 
his prey. While much has been accomplished in the way of edu- 
cating the masses, there is still room for improvement along all 
lines. 

The progress made by the race cannot be estimated on the 
showing made in the schools during these stirring times. Prog- 
ress was made, to be sure, but there was a wall of public prejudice 
to break down, so that on the ruins of it there should be estab- 
lished in the minds of the people, favorable sentiment for the 
education and training of the former slave. This wall was bat- 
tered down in places, and instead of the once strong rampart. 



32 School- Room Helps. 



there has been constructed in its place, here and there, in the very 
stronghold of slavery, a healthy support of the education of the 
masses, regardless of previous conditions, and it is gratifying to 
note that permanency and constancy characterizes this new senti- 
ment. 

It is to this feature of the educational trend in this country, 
that the masses of both races must look for succor. We are glad 
to write that the public mind is being awakened to the importance 
of training and educating the masses, for in proportion as the 
masses are trained in the arts of thrift and industry; in proportion 
as they are educated to the point of getting the best out of life, 
in other words, living the best life, in the same proportion will 
a strong government exist for the people, by the people and of the 
people. 

We conclude our observation on this topic by a prayer for a re- 
vival in the hearts of the people who are in position to do so, to 
change the environment of the masses in the manner as shall be 
indicated in the following topics included in this sub-division. 



(b). THE HOME LIFE. 

Education is affected by the home life of the child. That this 
is a truth has long since been established, and it goes without much 
much argument. The first schools opened to Negroes were filled 
by children whose parents had no homes, and hence were accus- 
tomed to no home comforts ; neither had they given their children 
any home training. These children were simply blanks, so far as 
knowing the things that civilized people should know. They 
were children of a parentage which had gone through a period of 
250 years of servitude, minus any mental training whatever, and 
thus they were physical giants, but mental pigmies. 

The home life of the race was a life of camping on the planta- 
tions, though sometimes their camps or cabins were warm and 
comfortable. The parent had no time to train the child, for the 
time of the elder belonged to another. 

In order that the mind of the child be plastic and easily affected 
by education, its home environment must be good and conditions 
such that the learner can give time to the acquisition of knowledge 
rather than to the pursuit of those things which pertain to bodily 
comforts. 

Parents should provide the child, — as far as possible — a pleas- 
ant home with some comfort ; give him some innocent playthings, 
some home amusement; give him a beautiful picture on the wall, 
that he may see some of the noble characters of the world of his 
own race as well as other races; give the child a beautiful song in 
its native air, and a beautiful poem written by a native poet, as 



Conditions Affecting Edtication Among Afro- Americans. 33 



well as from poets of other races ; read him the story of the strug- 
gle of his grandparents and the deeds of the heroes of the race, as 
well as the deeds of heroes of other races ; and you will inspire the 
youth to higher ideals of his own racial life. 

When you purchase a toy representing the Caucasian or the 
Mongolian race, you should purchase one representing the Negro 
race also. Cultivate in the home a love of the true and good in 
others. 

In the home there should hang paintings of our national char- 
acters, as far as the means of the family will allow, and especially 
those of Tanner and others who have achieved fame as painters. 
Modest games should be provided for the entertainment of the 
young, to keep their minds directed in channels of innocency, 
rather than allow them to seek employment on the streets, in the 
alleys, in dives and various haunts of vice and immorality. 

Children should be taught to love home above all other places, 
and to do this, you must have something to attract them more 
than the mere word "Home." 

Home should be made so attractive that children would not 
desire to leave it, however much inducement there might be to go 

Cultivate, at home, the love of all that is true and good in na- 
ture and in the great characters which the world holds as models, 
and above all else, teach the young to imitate as well as apper- 
ciate, whatever virtues there are in his own race, as well as the 
virtues in others. 

Summary — Environment. 

I — Education affected by various conditions of life. 
2 — Dark ages of the world. 
3 — The coming of the Pilgrim Fathers. 
4 — Condition of Afro-American compared with others. 
5 — Conditions have hindered his progress. 
6 — To clear up statements made. 

7 — The state of the minds of the people made education diffi- 
cult. 
8 — A wall of prejudice. 
9— The public mind has awakened. 
ID — The conclusion. 

Summary — Home Life. 

I — The first school opened to Negroes. 

2 — A life of camping. 

3 — The home environment must be good. 

4 — Provide home comforts, playthings, pictures, songs, poems. 

c; — Read stories. 



34 School-Room Helps. 



6 — Purchase toys of all races. 
7 — Cultivate a love for the true and the good. 
8 — Put paintings on the wall ; provide modest games. 
9 — Home should be made attractive and hold up the world's 
noted characters. 



(c). EDUCATION IN THE HOME. 

The education of a child may be divided into periods, viz. : 
Infancy, Youthhood, Manhood. 

The first peiiod is that which is spent on the knees of the mother 
whose ever panting breath and watchful eye are vigilant and 
anxious as to every step in the life of the child. 

This period is the most important of all, for it is this in which 
the first impressions are made. It is said by some writer that 
the impressions made during this period are lasting, that they are 
the impressions which are the passions of the child throughout 
its life. Someone else has said, "Give me the child during its 
first twelve years, and then you can have it." It is then the 
child first sees the light of the world in which it is to move and 
have its being. It is then it hears the sound of the whistle and 
engine for the first time, and learns to cry and whistle. It is 
then it hears, for the first time, the voice of a human being who 
is to communicate speech and shape its destiny. In other words, 
it looks out into a world void but for the possibilities of a rich 
legacy bequeathed by our ancestry and inherited by every child 
born into the world. Every child, therefore, is dependent upon 
its parents for the kind of training which is to be it's possession. 
How important, then, is it that this training be commenced early, 
and that it be well directed in channels best suited to the well 
being of the child. The oft repeated and ever present scripture, 
"Train up a child in the way it should go, and it will not depart 
from it," is the guide and strength of every faithful parent who 
feels the weight of the responsibility resting upon her, and she 
commences the task with fear and trembling, lest her task be not 
well done. 

That the kind of training received by every child depends pri- 
marily, upon the mother that gives it birth, no one will deny. 
Some children are richly endowed. They are fortunate to have 
mothers who have themselves been trained in the mother tongue, 
and in true womanly virtues — which should be the possession of 
every mother who is to train the rising generations. Such a par- 
ent commences early to mould and shape the language, character 
and habits of her child. "As mother is, so is the child," is a say- 
ing which carries with it too much truth to be treated as a mere 
saying. In other words, as the home and environment, so the 
child. 



Conditions Affecting Education Among Afro- Americans . 85 



The child that is unfortunate to have as its environment a 
poverty of language and a poverty of virtue, becomes heir to 
nothing good but the pure air from heaven, and not this, if the 
environment is not pure. 

How can a child speak good English unless it is first taught 
good English? How can it use pure words without it is first given 
pure words? 

The most essential requisite then, in the training of the child, 
is the environment. 

How careful is the husbandman who has the training and culti- 
vation of the tiny plants in the garden! He first prepares the 
soil by harrowing, raking, sifting and mellowing and enriching. 
The seeds are selected with special reference to their maturity and 
freshness. They are watched and tended as they spring up and 
begin to grow, every precaution being taken to support and ma- 
ture the tender plants in their growth till they are sufficiently 
strong to stand the storms and winds. So with the child culture 
and training. 

Some one says we should commence to train children one hun- 
dred years before they are born. This implies that the third 
and fourth generation must begin its training. 

It is said that Massachusetts has produced more great men to 
the square inch than any other state in the union. In other 
words, the New England section of the country is productive of 
more great brains than any other. North Hampton, alone, it is 
said, has produced 114 lawyers, 112 ministers, 95 physicians, 100 
educators, 30 professors, 24 editors, 6 historians, 14 authors, 38 
officers of state, 38 officers of the United States, including mem- 
bers of the Senate, and one President. 

One rich spot in the garden will bring forth many large and 
fruitful plants, as one town in Massachusetts will bring forth 
many great men to do service for the country. 

Thus it is clear that the training of the child at home stands 
more for its character in after life, than all else combined. 

If the Puritan mothers, nearly three hundred years ago, felt it 
necessary to take the children to the church and listen to a three 
hours sermon and a prayer one hour long, twice a day, and if it 
took such training to produce the great men of our country who 
framed our constitution and formed our government — how im- 
possible is it for us who will listen to no long sermons, nor think of 
no one-hour prayer, to produce such men in this day and time. 

What it took to produce a Longfellow, or an Adams, or a Low- 
ell, in former years, would take to produce men of the present 
generation. 



36 School-Room Helps. 



If the training of the present day is not what it used to be, and 
if our men are not compared with the men of former times, we 
may say that we have fallen from grace or retrograded. 

Put into the home, a good mother and an upright father, who 
have been trained in their mother tongue, and then give them 
children to rear. Compare these children with others who come 
from homes of parents who have not been thus environed. You 
will find as much difference in the bearings and habits of these 
children as we see in the breed of horses and mules. "Blood will 
tell." 

Too, children sometimes become what their associates are. 
Let the child of a good family associate with children of vicious 
families, and the result will be seen in the life of the child of the 
good family. The Bible says, "Evil communications corrupt 
good manners," which is too true to be unheeded by parents who 
are striving to train up good children. If our children are turned 
loose into the streets to run wild with the heterogeneous mass of 
humanity; if the neighbor's bad boy is to become his companion 
from day to day, there will finally be two bad boys instead of one, 
and your boy will be one of them. 

It is wonderful how some children, however unfortunate and 
common their environment, do rise above their surroundings 
and make of themselves worthy men and women. 

Were it not for the possibility of rising above one's surround- 
ings, there would be little chance for children of vicious and ig- 
norant parents to ever rise above their surroundings. The indi- 
viduals who rise above their environment rise in spite of it, and 
would rise though hell opposed. These are the exceptions to the 
rule w^hich covers a great majority of the human family. 

The children of poor and illiterate, constitute the masses of the 
populace, and should be the special care of the government as 
well as the favored classes who need little assistance. These chil- 
dren are to become the citizens of the republic as well as the more 
favored class, and should be trained, if possible, out of their en- 
vironment. 

The home training of our parents should be permanent and 
wholesome. It should be such as becomes the government of a 
Christian family. It ought not be spasmodic and erratic, nor 
cruel, but firm and gentle and humane A cursing and swearing 
father, and scolding and lying mother; a dirty and sloven envi- 
ronment will produce children with such natural tendencies, be 
your desire ever so earnest to the contrary. Pure and gentle 
words administered from pure and gentle character; clean and 
attractive environment — the home of the youth of the land — 
these all combined will produce men and women strong in body 
and mind, and noble in character. 



Conditions Affecting Education Among Afro- Americans. 37 

This subject of rearing children is truly a serious one at this 
time with every parent in this country, especially Afro-American 
parents. 

Everybody, too, has a solution to offer to this and all other 
problems affecting our race. There are few students among us. 
We are all teachers. All want to give advice, and few desire to 
accept advice. But while some of us are giving advice about 
how to rear children and some rejecting advice, our children are 
going astray every day, and we are responsible to our God for 
their training. We, too, may be numbered with those who are 
giving admonition as to the conduct of family government, but 
what we say here is certainly in harmony with our own mode of 
conduct at home with our own children. Our girls should be 
taught at home that law and order consist in orderly dress, orderly 
heads, clean faces and correct demeanor on the streets. Our 
girls should be taught that home is their castle which is always 
fortified if they are in it, but it is not fortified if they are not in it ; 
that character is the woman's most precious jewel, and that at 
home they have a castle with a fortified character in it. Girls 
have too much business on the streets; on the pad, on the run, 
with their mothers at home. Mothers who would know that 
they are responsible for their children at all times and places, 
would see to it that they become the escort of their girls. 

Our boys, too, should not be neglected, for it is the boy that has 
perplexed the problem in these latter days. Who knows what to 
do with our boys ? Who knows how to get the boy in school after 
he is thirteen years old? Or how to get him to attend Sunday 
School? Or how to get him off the streets into some useful em- 
ployment? Who knows how to make our boys stay away from 
the dives of the city? Who knows how to keep a. boy from bad 
habits? From bad associates? From debauchery and shame? 
Indeed, who knows how to manage a boy? 

Our boys are the hope of the race. 

That mother who is the child's teacher till it is twelve years old, 
can do more toward shaping and molding the boy to proper pro- 
portions than anyone else. That mother whose mission is divine 
and whose influence is eternal, is the one to shape the life and 
character of the boy. What a task, mother! It is your task, 
with father a close second. No one can train the boy as mother 
can. No one is responsible as mother is. 

We must conclude, therefore, that unless the mother is what 
she would have the boy become, there can be little true training. 

We would venture the thought that much of our family trouble 
and waywardness on the part of our boys and girls, come from 
this source— the crooked home government. In other words, 



38 School-Room Helps. 



the crooked home governor. Sometimes both are crooked, thus 
rendering home government impossible. 

We may conclude this chapter by laying down the following 
premise as a safe guide to us all : If mother and father are correct 
in their lives, and if mother and father are consistent and persis- 
tent in their teaching, then home training will be what it should 
be, and the child will be a product of this training. 

Finally, when all the homes in the land will stand for virtue 
and upright conduct, we shall have none but virtuous and up- 
right men and women, as products of these people. 



(d). THE SCHOOL HOUSE. 

The public mind is awake at this time as regards the school 
house in a way that it never has been before. The old log school 
house on the hill has been torn down and in its place stands a 
modern brick structure with all the improvements up-to-date. 

Garfield's idea of a log with himself on one end and a teacher 
on the other, does not possess the minds of the people at this time ; 
for the times are pressing for better school facilities and better 
compensation for teachers 

The Afro-American child should have good school houses and 
good facilities to keep up with the pace, and the little log cabin on 
the hill with skylights in the ceiling and windows all around it, 
will no more meet the demand of the times. The improvement 
of school houses has moved forward rapidly of late years among 
the people for the Caucasian children, and commendably so, but 
in the rural districts the movement has not reached the Afro- 
American children in a like proportion. We trust that the move- 
ment will not stop short of its full purpose — to improve all the 
school houses in the land; for no child can sit on a two-legged 
stool, or on a bench with no back, or in school houses made of 
logs chinked with mud and here and there a hole, and learn his 
A, B, C's as readily as the child that is provided with the modern 
school house. 

The modern education calls for modern improvements. The 
old one-horse plow has been displaced by the riding plow drawn 
by two horses. Instead of the old method of flaying of grain, 
there is the modern threshing machine which cuts the grain, binds 
it, and threshes it at the same time. 

The modern school house has come to take the place of the old, 
and the tardy occupancy of the new by the Afro-American is 
attributed to the fact that conditions effecting a general diffusion 
of knowledge are not as ripe in some places in this country as 
they should be as regards the education of the masses. Wherever 



Conditions Affecting Education Among Afro- Americans . 39 

there is a healthy sentiment toward a general diffusion of 
knowledge, there is a corresponding sentiment for good school 
houses and better paid teachers. 

The school house of both races in any community is a good in- 
dex of public sentiment in regards to the education of the masses. 
We hail the day when all the children will go to school in well 
ventilated, well constructed school houses, and no child, rich or 
poor, will be forced to sit on a two-legged stool. 

Summary — The Schoolhouse. 

I — Public sentiment as regards the school house. 

2 — Garfield's idea of learning. 

3 — The Afro- American child and good school houses. 

4 — The rapid improvement among the Caucasians. 

5 — The purpose of this movement. 

6 — Modern education calls for modern improvements. 

7 — A healthy sentiment and the school house. 

8 — We hail the day. 



(e). THE SCHOOL BOARD AND ITS AUTHORITY. 

The School Boards of the community stand as representatives 
of the public as regards the education of the youth. In the South 
land the Negro schools are run in connection with the white 
schools. In many places there are splendid and liberal provisions 
made for the Negro schools in connection with the white schools, 
and it can be said that these schools share in whatever munifi- 
cence the State bestows for the benefit of education. It is under- 
stood, and carried out in some places, that the Afro-American 
youth share in all the school fund which the State provides for 
the children. 

That School Boards are kindly disposed toward Negro schools 
and are willing to make equal provisions for these schools in pro- 
portion to the number, but are handicapped, somewhat, by pub- 
lic sentiment, is a fact which needs no elucidation, as the facts 
are well known. Public sentiment is the element which should 
be converted in favor of the education of the masses. 

In some communities, especially in cities, where our people have 
accumulated some considerable property, and where public senti- 
ment has been changed in favor of a liberal expenditure of school 
funds on all the children, the School Boards have provided for 
the Negro schools in such way as to permit the organization of 
good and substantial public schools running nine months in the 
year, — even good High Schools. 

Were it not for this healthv and liberal sentiment in favor of 



40 School- Room Helps. 



public education in the large centres where many of our people 
concentrate, the education of the Negro youth would not bear 
inspection, for in the rural districts the schools are poorly 
equipped, running three and five months in the year with a poor 
teacher poorly paid. We hope the time is not far distant when 
the public mind will be aroused to the point of universal educa- 
tion for the masses ; for we believe that education should be given 
in proportion to the illiteracy of the individuals to be taught. 
There should be a growing sentiment in this Christian country 
for the education of the masses — for the safety of the government 
depends upon the intelligence of its citizens. The education of 
the Negro youth in this country depends upon the liberality of 
the sentiment of the people who have the schools in control, and 
especially upon the School Boards and Trustees of the cities and 
community schools, and if it were left to us to appeal in behalf of 
our people, we would enter such appeal with all of our soul to the 
powers that be, to the end that they educate the masses in pro- 
portion to their illiteracy. 

Summary — The School Board. 

I — The school represents the people. 
2 — In many places there are liberal provisions made. 
3 — Public sentiment. 

4 — Time to come when universal education should be given. 
5 — Education of the Negro depends on the liberality of the peo- 
ple. 

(f). PARENTAL COOPERATION. 

That parental cooperation is a very necessary element in the 
control and education of our children, is a fact on which all school 
authority agree. The cooperation of the parents in the educa- 
tion of their children is needed for many reasons. Some of which 
we shall here note for consideration. First, the child comes to 
school having been sent by the parent, and it is supposed that the 
parent is in perfect accord with the teacher in the education of 
the child, as the sending on the part of parent would indicate his 
purpose to cooperate. Secondly, the child is under the control 
of its parents, and if the parents exercise this control, as is their 
God-given right, the child will feel the influence of this control 
only removed from the home to the school house, or better, only 
extending from the home to the school house. 

Thirdly, no one should be more interested in the education and 
welfare of the child than the parent ; not even the teacher, for the 
teacher owes nothing to the child but love of humanity, while the 
parent owes much education, training, parental love, and prepara- 



Conditions Affecting Education Among Afro- Americans . 41 

tion for life. The parent should feel duty bound to cooperate 
earnestly and unselfishly in everything which makes for the bene- 
fit of the child in the school, since he is responsible for whatever 
good or bad that comes to the child while under parental control. 
Fourthly, a failure of the parent to cooperate in the education 
of the child ought to be sufficient grounds for the discontinuance 
of such child in school; for when the parent refuses to assist in 
the education of the child, then no one else should be held re- 
sponsible for what has been refused by the rightful agent. Much 
is said and written in every school meeting, teachers' normals 
and Institutes, concerning parental cooperation, but much talk 
on this subject is done ex parte. The parent who is to be the co- 
partner in this important work is very rarely present at the meet- 
ings, and never hears discussed his relation to the school. We 
trust that this book which gives our view on this subject may 
reach a number of our parents and thus fall into the hands of the 
persons who should be interested in this subject. 

The teacher in the schoolroom and the parent at home, both 
cooperating toward the same end, the welfare of the child, can 
form a trust which cannot be broken by any opposition of the 
child. The average child of the present day growth, needs a 
strong support at home to influence him to apply himself to study 
at school, and give the teacher the proper respect. The teacher 
can easily tell whether the persons at home are performing their 
part of service in the corporation, when there is any rigid enforce- 
ment of regulations at school, and in consequence of which there 
is a rebellion among the pupils. The rebellion in school is usually 
headed and abetted by irresponsible students whose parents are 
slack in their control at home, and who show the child by insinua- 
tions concerning the teacher, that he, the parent is not much con- 
cerned as to the relation between teacher and pupil. 

A parent who will exact strict or implicit obedience from his 
child at home, and who exacts from the child faithful service at 
home, will, as a rule, cooperate with the teacher in securing the 
same results at school. 

In the long service which we have given in the schoolroom, we 
have never been mistaken in our diagnosis of a case of insubordin- 
ation or rebellion, when the environment and antecedents of the 
child were considered. As a rule, the indolent child has been in- 
dulged at home, and a saucy, impudent child has been allowed 
to do those things at home, and hence at school. Cooperation 
of parents means more than merely sending the child to school. 
It means sending the child to school and turning him over to the 
teacher, and not necessarily making an agreement with the teacher, 



42 School- Room Helps. 



but an understanding all the same, to mutually cooperate in all 
that pertains to the proper training and education of the child. 

Uncomplimentary remarks at home concerning the govern- 
ment at school, or a slight remark by the teacher concerning par- 
ental control, would act and re-act upon all parties in some way. 
Parent as well as teacher, should guard well this joint partnership 
company, for either party can cause a failure in the business. 

Summary — Parental Cooperation. 

I — Parental cooperation necessary. 

2 — Reasons why cooperation is necessary. 

3 — Much is said and written, but work is ex parte. 

4 — We trust this book will fall in hands of those interested. 

5 — Teacher and parent form a trust. 

6 — The average child needs a home support. 

7 — The teacher can tell when he is supported at home. 

8 — The kind of parent that helps at home. 

9 — Our diagnosis of cases during our long service. 

ID — Indolent, saucy, impudent children. 

II — What cooperation means. 

12 — Remarks at home and at school. 



(g). MOTHER'S CLUBS. 

As a means of effecting education and assisting those actively 
engaged in education in any community, the Mother's Clubs, 
which of recent years have been organized as auxiliaries, are 
doing much good. 

In former years when our people were just learning to appre- 
ciate education and our parents were listening to the stories of 
school house tyranny, and the school master ghost, as related to 
the terror stricken children as they sat around the family circle 
at night, and, when the home folk were wont to peep through the 
windows and key holes to see this monster as he passed going to 
and from his daily vocation, then it was that the home folk 
formed a very low and erroneous opinion of the work of the school 
house and the mission of the school teacher. 

The pupils were influenced by some fanciful delusion to look upon 
their teachers as possessing supernatural powers and persons 
who did not eat, drink, and move on the same earth as ordinary 
beings, but who lived in a different atmosphere and thought dif- 
ferent thoughts than the parents of these pupils. The parents 
also, on account of their separation from the school house, were 
strangers to the school master, and knew absolutely nothing 
about the relation existing between the school house and their 



Conditions Affecting Education Among Afro- Americans . 43 

children — only as they had it in this fanciful hallucination as 
described above. No wonder the school house bore such fearful 
relations to the home, and the school teacher such foreign rela- 
tions to the parent and child! But the day of this condition of 
things in the school house and the home has passed, and is num- 
bered with the days which tradition delights to tell of as having 
been once upon a time existing. 

The Mother's Club is a movement among the mothers, which 
has for its purpose the improvement of the relations between the 
school house and the home, and between the school teacher and 
the parent. Instead of the parent as in the old way, looking 
through smoked glasses to see the relation of home to the school 
house, the Club has carried the home to the school house, and 
the parent and teacher have joined hands in the same cause. In- 
stead of the parent looking through the windows and peeping 
through the keyholes to see a "monster" as he passes, the win- 
dows are now raised, and the doors opened, while the parent 
stands in open view to welcome the teacher and assigns to his care 
the children to be conducted to the school house. 

The Mother's Club is a twentieth century agency which unites 
the home with the school house in the education of the young in 
a manner as to make the training of the young the burden of the 
home as well as the burden of the teacher. In other words, this 
club is the outgrowth of the modern idea of education — home 
training in conjunction with school training. 

The organization of Clubs among women, for the purpose of 
helping in the education of the young, while considerably in vogue 
by the white parents and in some places by colored schools, is 
not generally the rule in the colored schools. That the Afro- 
American schools should have these Mother's Clubs everywhere, 
requires no argument, for what is good for the one school in this 
country, is good for the other. This is to say that under similar 
conditions in this country, the races are affected similarly. It 
can hardly be argued that the above assertion is not universally 
true, for the Negro takes to any kind of training, both mental and 
physical, that his white brother does. 

The Clubs have been organized to assist the school teacher in 
many ways, some of which we here mention as a means of 
emphasizing this phase of the home work. The Mother's Club 
asists first, the School Board in beautifying the school house and 
the school yards. This is done by planting trees and flowers on 
the school yards, and by hanging pictures on the walls and paint- 
ing and papering school houses where they are needed. 

Second, They assist the teacher in training the children, by dis- 
cussing best methods of training in the Clubs, and by building up 



44 School- Room Helps. 



a healthy sentiment among the people to take part in this train- 
ing. 

Third, They assist the teacher by building up a sentiment 
among the children to obey authority and respect their teachers 
and their parents. 

Fourth, They assist in educating the public mind as to its duty 
to the school and to the young. 

Fifth, They become public benefactors since they do many 
things for the public that the public never dreamed of doing for 
itself. 

Thus the twentieth century Mother of the Caucasian race has 
taken her place by the side of the school teacher to uplift the race 
and the Afro-American mother is called upon to take her place 
by the side of the teacher of her race to do similar duty. 

Mother's Clubs should be organized everywhere to assist in 
educating our children and in doing more, in improving our homes 
and our school houses. Teachers must lead out in the organiza- 
tion of these Clubs, for no one in the community is more inter- 
ested than he is, and no one is more benefited than he, since the 
mission of the Club is to assist him in his work. 

Summary — Mother's Clubs. 

I — The Mother's Club as an auxiliary. 

2 — When our people were just learning to appreciate education. 
3 — The pupils were influenced by some fanciful illusion. 
4 — The Club has carried the home to the school house. 
5 — A Twentieth Century agency. 
6 — Mother's Clubs should be everywhere. 

7 — Clubs have been organized to assist in the education of the 
race. 

8 — The twentieth century mother. 



CHAPTER V. 



V. GOVERNMENT BY THE TEACHER 



The teacher in the schoolroom is the governor as much as the 
governor of the State is governor, though the teacher may be con- 
sidered governor with all the modifications taken off. A gov- 
ernor of a State has many limitations to his government, but a 
teacher has few. "He is monarch of all he surveys. His rights, 
there are none to dispute." If he wishes to set up a tyrannical 
government, he can do so without consulting any of the con- 
stituents. The kind of government which he sets up depends 
wholly upon the kind of ruler there is on the throne. 

In order that there be a strong government, let us point out the 
qualities of such a government. 
(a) — It should be moderate. 
(b) — It should be consistent. 
(c; — It should be unbiased 
(d; — It should be wise. 

(a). SHOULD BE MODERATE. 

That the government should be moderate, is saying that there 
should not be extremes in the government of the subjects. It 
should be moderate in the sense that the governor should not feel 
at liberty sometimes to order the heads of his subjects cut off and 
then at another time allow then to do as they please without 
restraint. It should be moderate in the sense that it should 
teach the subjects to govern themselves as long as their actions 
do not infringe upon the rights of others. 

The teacher should aim not to impress his pupils with the idea 
that he is tyrannical or cruel in his treatment, for it will have the 
same effect upon the minds of his pupils as a tyrannical govern- 
ment of adults would have upon them. It broods rebellion and 
encourages revolts. It stirs up revolutions and creates strife and 
dissensions, which will require war and rumors of wars to settle. 

It is uncivil and unrighteous and "smacks" of barbarism and 

(45) 



46 School- Room Helps. 



heathenism, for a cruel and unjust teacher in the schoolroom is 
little less in the minds of the civilians than the heathen ruler who 
sways his tyrannical scepter over the heads of a defenseless peo- 
ple in Africa or Asia. 

The Negro youths too, should be trained under a different 
government than that of their parents who came up under the 
whip and lash in the days of American servitude. The parent 
knew no other school; no other teaching than that which came 
from force and unremunerated service. The youth of the twen- 
tieth century should be trained to respect law and order while in 
school, and when they are grown men and women, they will re- 
spect the laws of the land. 



(b). SHOULD BE CONSISTENT. 

The government should be consistent in that it should not 
establish a system which should mete out justice to some of the 
subjects and injustice to the rest. Even children know when they 
are treated with unfairness. Consistency is a jewel very rarely 
found among the swine. The idea is that the governor must be 
so imbued with the spirit of the Divine Teacher that the Golden 
Rule will be the mirror through which he sees himself in all his 
dealings with the subjects. 

In order that a teacher is consistent in his government in the 
schoolroom, he should endeavor to set up such a standard that 
should be administered to all alike, the old as well as the young, 
the boys as well as the girls, the rich as well as the poor. This is 
where the rub comes, if it comes at all. In the disposition of jus- 
tice to his many kinds of pupils, it is a level-headed teacher that 
can so dispose of his remedies in such a way that the pupils can 
feel and see the righteousness of his acts. 

Such a teacher must not depend upon himself for guidance, 
but he should invoke the guidance of the Great Teacher who 
knows better than any human teacher how to temper justice with 
mercy. 

(c). SHOULD BE UNBIASED. 

The governor should be unbiased in his rulings. This is to say 
that he should not look through a smoked glass at one child and 
through a transparent glass at another. This is where the gov- 
ernment rubs again. Let us consider a case in point to illustrate 
what is meant in this connection by unbiased government: 
Thomas and Floyd, two boys who have parents equally interested 
in their education, but the former is the son of a poor father, and 
the latter of a wealthy and popular family. The two boys have 



Government by the Teacher. 47 

a misunderstanding on the play-ground, and come to blows, a 
school boy scrap. The teacher is called in to settle this scrap. 

It is understood that the father of Floyd has much influence, 
even to the extent of holding the teacher in his position. In the 
settlement of the case where the two boys are at fault, the teacher 
leans toward Floyd and settles the case with colorings in favor 
'of the boy which has influence behind him. In the adjustment 
of the case it is seen by the pupils and felt seriously by Thomas 
that the teacher was partial and lent toward the other boy be- 
cause of his standing. 

In the settlement of such cases the teacher not only makes his 
government unstable, but he makes a wound in the mind of 
Thomas which may never heal, and loses the confidence of the 
school. 

There are few rubs in the government when the subjects have 
implicit confidence in the ruler. The teacher who will have the 
moral courage to stand up for the right, even though his personal 
interest is at stake, will win out in the end. 

Sometimes in administering justice to his subjects, the governor 
is called upon to decide to which of two contending mothers does 
the innocent babe belong. Then, as Solomon did, he should call 
for a sword and proceed to divide the baby between the two. In 
this way the heart of the contending parties may be seen and the 
rightful owner found. 

In concluding this topic we wish to say that in all our expe- 
rience in the schoolroom, we have found it necessary to give 
much thought on points of decision and discrimination. A hasty 
decision by the teacher may cost him his position, while a mature 
deliberation may win for him the confidence of his school and 
patrons. 

In the disposition of stubborn cases we would advise the policy 
of waiting for mature consideration. Suppose the pupil absolute- 
ly refuses to respond to the commands of the teacher. Why 
hurry to make him respond? Why take the time of the school 
to have an altercation with him? Why not dismiss him from the 
classes for the time, and take up the case when you have time for 
mature consideration, and the pupil has had time to see himself 
through the mirror of his conscience? A policy of waiting often 
wins. In fact, there is no chance to lose, by waiting, anything 
more valuable than a "hot" temper, which on account of the loss 
may add much to the teacher's profit. 

The Golden Rule is a very good guiding principle in all our 
actions, and at all times. "Do unto others as you would that 
others do unto you," does not apply in the treatment of older peo- 
ple more pertinently than it dees in the treatment of children. 



48 School- Room Helps. 



(d). SHOULD BE WISE. 

To say that a governor is wise, is passing encomium upon him 
on account of his wise actions. Few governors however, can so 
act at all times as to get this appellation. Solomon was a wise 
ruler, the wisest the world has ever seen, but even Solomon in all 
his glory and wisdom was not without fault. 

Wise in the sense which we here apply it, means discreet, cau- 
tious, prudent in whatever is done. 

Many people are possessed of learning as far as books go, and 
can meet the requirement of the scholar, but are wanting in the 
elements of wisdom, in the elements of discretion necessary to 
make a success in whatever they undertake. In other words, it 
takes more than book "larning" to make a man wise. 

Let us take for illustration two cases — Mr. A has just finished 
school, having been educated at the best school in the land in all 
the Languages, Sciences, History and Mathematics the school 
affords. He makes application for a responsible position and is 
elected on first ballot on account of splendid papers of recom- 
mendation, etc. He commences his work most auspiciously, 
having the good will of the people. Soon he is called upon to de- 
cide cases which envolve not so much learning as it does common 
sense and discretion. At every turn in the road he makes blun- 
ders in judgment and is seriously criticised by people of much in- 
ferior learning. Mr. A. is much exasperated and perplexed to 
find that he is criticised by people whom he considers far be- 
low his standing, and soon he begins to flaunt his learning in the 
face of his criticisers, making it appear that these persons who 
find fault are but pigmies in comparison. 

The little pigmies laugh at his blunders and wonder how it is 
that a man of all this learning can fall so short of doing the right 
thing at the right time. Mr. A fails and is superceded by Mr. B, 
who is simply, as far as books are concerned, a self-made man; 
who, though no comparison to Mr. A in learning, is a level-headed, 
common man, possessed of only enough scholarship to pass the 
Board of Examiners in common English. 

Mr. B has brought to him similar cases that confronted Mr. 
A, and with the calmness characteristic of Mr. B, he deliberates 
cautiously upon each one of them, gives satisfaction in his de- 
cision to both pupil and patron. And thus he succeeds where Mr. 
A fails. 

This case in point only illustrates the fact that education in 
the head of a fool will only serve to make the possessor a con- 
firmed fool; while a little learning, sometimes in the head of a man 
of common sense will prepare him for doing much good among 
his fellows. 



The Governed. 49 



It is hardly possible for a man to act wisely unless he has these 
elements in him. Fools try to act wisely, but are caught in the 
awkwardness of their acts. It is hard to act one thing and be 
another. 

In order that our position may be clearly seen in this discus- 
sion, we here state that we do not compromise with ignorance, 
neither do we believe learning is all of it. A man without learn- 
ing may do somethings well, but with learning he can do much 
more. 

It has been our aim here to differentiate between the man with 
some learning and much common sense, and the man with much 
learning and no common sense. Learning in the head of a wise 
man, and he becomes much wiser; but in the head of a fool, and 
he is the more fool. 

"Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom; and with 
all thy getting, get understanding." 

Summary. — Government. 

I — The teacher a governor. 

2 — The kind of government depends on the ruler. 

3 — Should be moderate in the sense of teaching self-govern- 
ment. 

4 — Should not be cruel, unrighteous, but youth should be 
trained under different system, and should know how to respect 
the laws of the land. 

5 — Children know when they are mistreated. Where the rub 
comes; teacher should not depend upon himself. 

6 — For a governor to be unbiased or unselfish in his dealings, 
shows lack of heart power; Thomas and Floyd; the settlement 
of such cases ; the governor to be a Solomon ; concluding this topic, 
etc. 

^^f ^^f ^^W> 



THE GOVERNED. 



(a). HIS ENVIRONMENT. 

In another chapter we have touched the subject of environ- 
ment of the parent and in this chapter we shall speak of the child's 
environment. 

We believe very much in the doctrine of heredity. This is to 
say that the child will be what its parent is. The vegetable king- 
dom furnishes splendid examples of environment, for the farmer 
and the nursery man must first prepare their soils before they can 
hope to reap an abundant harvest. And then, so as the environ- 



50 School- Room Helps. 

merit, so the production. This is to say a rich, mellow soil will 
produce a healthy growth of vegetation. As the vegetable king- 
dom, so the animal kingdom. A strong and healthy parent will 
produce a healthy child. That this is true, all will agree as the 
facts to substantiate these assertions are too numerous to leave 
any room for doubt on this score. 

But does heredity descend or ascend? Does a strong and vig- 
orous parent produce a strong and vigorous mind in the child? 
Truly so, as a rule, though there are cases of abnormal mental 
growth in families as well as abnormal physical growth in the 
vegetable kingdom. We do not pretend in this connection to 
produce psychological deductions to prolong the argument on 
this point, but would rather turn this phase of the subject over 
to the psychologist who would enter at length into the intrica- 
cies of mental science to prove that the child inherits not only 
the physical powers of the parent, but also the mental powers. 

The offspring is endowed both physically and mentally from 
the parental bounty, and is blessed in proportion to the abun- 
dance of this fountain head. The infant then, has three sources 
to draw upon, which influences its life, two of which we have 
noted above; the third is the home environment of the family. 
In other words, the society in which the child finds himself when 
it begins to move among men and get ideas from the outward 
world. 

Let us grant that the child comes into the world with the physi- 
cal body given it by its parent stock, that the infant physique 
draws on its parent for whatever of strength or of weakness its 
body must have, and that its mental powers will develop in pro- 
portion as this parent stock has endowed this infant. Just how 
much of mental endowment is drawn from the old stock, is not 
easily estimated. 

Mr. Roark in his Psychology in Education, in discussing a 
physical basis for mind, says this: — "Mind as we know it rests 
upon a physical basis which acts upon mind, and upon which 
mind acts. What the connection is between mind and that phys- 
ical basis, or how this connection is made and maintained is not 
known, and most probably never will be known." Let us grant 
also, that the child not only gets its physical background from the 
parent, but the basis for its mental development, and that the 
social environment into which the child finds itself when it comes 
into the world, comes from whatever social standing the parent 
has in the world. 

We are much impressed that the child's social life has much to 
do with its mental attainments, so much so, that its life, for weal 
or for woe, depends upon this social standing. 

Instances to substantiate our discussion will here be given, and 



The Governed. 51 



then we shall desist. A child is born to Mr. C. who is educated 
and cultured, having been blessed with wealth and family stand- 
ing all his days. The family, of course, moves in the best society 
and has never known anything else. Not only this family, but 
all of its associates have been educated in the purest of English, 
and have been careful that the mother tongue be the only tongue 
used in the family, and that in its purity. Mr. C's child, there- 
fore, has a pure environment to embrace it when it comes into the 
world, and it will simply be impossible for such a child to con- 
tract bad habits of speech even before it enters school. This is 
to say, that the child partakes of its environment and cannot rise 
above it. 

Another child is born to Mr. D who is a colored man whose par- 
ents were slaves, and who never were able to give Mr. D the ad- 
vantages of any kind of education. The associates of Mr. D are 
also illiterate, though good, honest, hard-working people. This 
child is a bright, bouncing boy with splendid physique and power- 
ful mental capacity. It could be a great man, were it not for its 
environment. It is thrown, of course, into the society of its fam- 
ily standing and is trained by its mother, who has never had the 
advantages of school, nor the society of the cultured. 

This boy is sent to school early and takes readily to books, but 
is never able to throw off the barbarisms in the language which 
he hears from morning till night, at home and among his asso- 
ciates. His mother gave him the first word to say, and that 
word was broken English. All his life thereafter, even in school, 
he has heard broken English and has tried to throw it off. It is 
almost impossible for little D to rise above this environment and 
use the kind of English that little C uses. And thus environ- 
ment is a master that holds fast his servants. 

Summary — Environment. 

I — The doctrine of heredity. 
2 — Does it include the mental powers? 
3 — Refer to the psychologist. 
4 — The offspring is endowed. 
. 5 — Mr. Roark's definition. 
6 — Let us grant, etc. 
7 — Instances — Mr. C and Mr. D. 



(b). THE STUDY OF THE CHILD. 

In former years under the old system of education, there was 
no thought of studying the mind of the child. Few school teach- 
ers are given to the investigations in mental science to enable 



52 School- Room Helps. 

them to study the minds of their pupils as is required to under- 
stand child mind. 

In recent years science has taken long strides in this direction, 
and much has been accomplished by the diligent student in the 
study of child mind. The new method of study requires the 
teacher to know something concerning the operations of the mind. 
And why not? Is it supposed that one can be able to understand 
a machine without knowing something of its component parts? 

Is it not surprising that the old teacher with the old method of 
teaching — giving to his pupils all classes of material in all sorts of 
quantities, at all times and at all ages, reached any results at all? 

The present day method requires the teacher first to know the 
subject to be taught. Second, know the child. Third, know the 
order in which the knowledge is to be taught. 

To know the subject taught, requires special preparation on 
the part of the teacher in a school with curricula of studies, and 
such a course followed and mastered. 

To know the child, requires much study on the part of the 
teacher in special technical and normal schools designed especial- 
ly for the teacher. This is the new phase of the modern educa- 
tion and its development has not ended. It is not so much now as 
to what you shall teach, as it is what are the operations of the 
mind of the learner and how to apply the subject to the mind. 

We would suggest to the young teacher the following questions 
for consideration, upon the preparation for entering the teaching 
profession : — ( i ) Do I understand the subject to be taught ? That 
is, have I thoroughly mastered the subjects that I wish to teach 
to others? Can I teach to others what I have not learned thor- 
oughly myself? 

(2) Do I understand the complex nature of the mind that I am 
intending to teach? How can I, a physician, administer a dose 
of medicine to an individual unless I have studied the nature of 
the individual that I hope to administer to? Have I understood 
the composition of the medicine which I hope to give this indi- 
vidual? 

(3) Do I understand the effect of the medicine upon the indi- 
vidual? Do I understand how to administer to this individual 
the specific quantities of the specific medicine needed at the spe- 
cific period in the life of the individual ? 

If the young teacher can answer these questions in the affirma- 
tive, he or she is commissioned to teach the new education. 

Child study, therefore, is here commended to the student that 
is preparing to do service in the schools of this race, as we cannot 
hope to secure our teachers from other races. 

We would insinuate here that since we have the same subjects 



The Governed. 53 



to teach, and the same kinds of minds to enhghten, that our teach- 
ers should endeavor to prepare along the same lines as teachers of 
other races. 

Summary — Study of the Child. 

I — The study of the mind of the child, 

2 — The new method of study. 

3 — The old method. 

4 — To know the subject, and to know the child, requires, etc. 

5 — Questions to be answered by the young teacher. 

6 — Child study recommended, etc. 



(c). WHAT TO TEACH THE NEGRO CHILD. 

What we shall say, in these lines, that should be taught the 
Negro child, will hold good for any child of any race, but in this 
connection we hope to point out some specific lessons that should 
be driven home in the training of our own children. 

Some of the critics in our own race may at this point, find oc- 
casion for unfavorable comments on the idea of specific treatment 
or application of any subject to our race, but any race must come 
to the time in its development, when it can profit by the applica- 
tion of specific doses. 

In the work of the teacher, he should find time to teach moral 
lessons daily, in order that the young should not only grow men- 
tally, but morally in those attributes which go to make them 
strong men and women who are to take their places in the arena 
of life to do battle among the nations of the world. Lead them 
down the following ladder of fame: — (i) Honesty, (2) Obedience, 
(3) Truthfulness, (4) Love of Parents, (5) Gratitude, (6) Honor, 
(7) Fidelity to Duty, (8) Good manners, (9) Courage, (10) Clean- 
liness, (11) Temperance, (12) Self-control, (13) Kindness to oth- 
ers, (14) Politeness, (15) Gentleness, in speech — in manners. 

(i). That the average child is born with the signs of abnormal 
honesty, has been asserted by many, and that every moment of 
its development proves the assertion true, is open for much argu- 
ment. If there is any truth in the doctrine of heredity, and 
we believe there is, the Negro child has fallen heir to some of the 
traits of the parent stock, which came down from the old ante 
bellum regime. That the system of training of this parent sto c- 
for almost 300 years in the arts of dishonesty, were such as to de- 
velop a specie of abnormality, no one will deny. 

The task is given the present generation of teachers to incul- 
cate in the minds of the young the love of honesty. Stories of 
the lives of men and women who stood for honesty in purpose, in 
action, in life, should be held up daily before these children, and 



54 School-Room Helps. 



the impression made early in life of the worth of living an honest 
man. Concrete examples should be employed as much as possi- 
ble, as well as reading the stories of individual lives. 

(2). Teach the Negro child to love obedience, for early in its 
life there are monstrous signs of disobedience in many of them, 
showing that nature predisposes the individual for the way it 
would go before reason is cultivated. 

In the management of children, we find our greatest trouble in 
the schoolroom lies in the fact that children don't want to obey. 
In other words, as a rule, they don't want to obey without co- 
ercion. Some have little compunction of conscience as to their 
guilt in any given case, and are willing to be given the rod and 
allowed to go and commit, at will, another offence. 

They should be taught early to respect the rules and regula- 
tions of school, and of their parents, and thus be prepared to re- 
spect the laws of their country. There should be held up to 
them daily, the crimes which fill our newspapers, of the actions of 
the youth of the race in disobeying the laws of the country, and 
the direful consequences which await the offender. 

Teach the youth in our Grammar and High Schools, that im- 
plicit obedience to parents and teachers should be one of the first 
requisites for certificate or diploma from the school. 

(3). Truthfulness, the third step in the ladder, is another ele- 
ment found wanting in many of our children in early years — a 
fact which indicates abnormal tendency in the child. Who taught 
the child of five summers to lie and stand pat on it ? It would not 
do to say that the child's parents taught it to lie It would be 
better to say that the child inherited the disposition to lie, or the 
tendency to lie from its parents. Whether the child gets its ten- 
dency from its parents, or whether it sets up its lying habits on its 
own account, is not the main question in the discussion. It is 
the fact that this little fellow commences to lie before he com- 
mences to do much else. The fact is, its tendencies are wrong. 
The work to be done, therefore, is to eradicate this predisposi- 
tion. 

The teacher should do his work on this generation well, so that 
the tendency in the youth of the next generation will be an im- 
provement on the present. Here is where the work is to be done, 
and here is where the constant rub comes in the teacher's life. 

(4) . Love oj parents should form many topics of the daily work 
of the teacher. Children should be trained to love mother and 
father more than any one else, and that love shows itself in shin- 
ing colors when they obey and respect them. 

Practical examples to illustrate the love of children for mother 



The Governed ^ 55 



and father should be employed freely as occasions present them- 
selves to the teacher. 

The home, the mother's love which hides a multitude of faults, 
the great sacrifices which parents undergo for their children — all 
these should be emphasized from time to time, to give examples 
on this score, and no opportunity should be lost by the teacher 
early in the child's school career, of stamping the imprint indel- 
ibly on the mind of the child, of the value of parental love. 

(5). Gratitude, the fifth step in the ladder, is hardly less impor- 
tant in the perpetuity of this ladder of fame, than the strongest 
step in the flight, for it is said that a chain is no stronger than its 
weakest link or a man's character is as strong as its weakest spot. 

The home life or the work of the mother as she sits with the in- 
fant on her knees, is here seen in all its significations. 

A mother who has herself been brought up under wholesome 
educational influences will, of course, put her example — her life, 
in the bringing up of the child in the way it should go, and, such a 
home presided over by such a mother, has its effect early in shap- 
ing the character and life of the child, as will be seen in its early 
habits and manners as it begins to let its wants be known to those 
around it. 

The ingratitude of children is the worst type of barbarism, and 
above all else that may come from the son or daughter of a par- 
ent, this form of barbarity strikes us as the vilest of all. 

To see a mother spending her life over the wash tub or over the 
fire, cooking for money to educate that son or that daughter; or 
scouring upon her knees the floors of her employer and giving her 
paltry earnings for this purpose; and then on the other hand, see 
this child flaunt its vile wrath in the face of that mother, because 
that mother asks some sign of obedience on the part of the child 
a specie of ingratitude more numerous among our people than is 
really understood by the casual observer. 

(6). Teach the child to honor its father and mother, that its 
days may be long upon the land which the I^ord our God giveth us. 

The true significance of the word Honor, is not known by the 
careless and unconcerned youngster that has not been taught by 
careful hands at home and at school. 

Many of our children that register in the public schools of our 
Southland, are without homes and without father or mother. 
They are, as a rule, "Staying with Aunt Mary, or. Uncle John, or 
Cousin Jane," who has not the time to train them, were they in- 
clined to do so, for much of their time must be spent in keeping 
the wolf from the door. These children go to school sometimes 
and sometimes they don't go. When they do present themselves 



56 School- Room Helps. 



to the teacher, his or her time is given to trying to impress a few 
ideas in their heads of being an honest man or an honest woman. 

It is very unfortunate for our race that these fatherless and moth- 
erless children are not confined in school at all times under the 
training of a good teacher, who is ''loco parentis,'' and is responsi- 
ble to the race and to God for whatever training is imparted to 
them. What a responsibility rests upon the Negro teachers of 
this commonwealth! 

(7). Fidelity to duty should be taught in blazing letters of gold 
to every child that enters the school house, for the race needs be 
quickened and spurred by infusing new blood into its veins and 
thus start it on afresh in the matter of doing duty faithfully. 

Regular attendance at school, punctuality, prompt in meeting 
engagements, should be stressed in the daily work of the teacher, 
and our children should be taught that true womanhood and 
worthy manly action consists as much in doing duty well, as in 
getting good lessons and in making splendid recitations. 

(8). So many of our children for the reasons that we have given 
above, have never had a mother to teach them good manners 
upon her knees. 

Good manners is an attribute which comes from good breeding. 
Most children show their rearing by their manners. A pleasant 
"good morning," by the teacher, a pleasing greeting of the pu- 
pils as they enter the school, may assist very much in setting the 
proper example of good manners. 

Children should be taught by example, to respect the aged. 
"Good morning, papa;" "How are you, mother?" "How is your 
health, Mr, Johnson?" are salutations which don't cost much 
more than the saying, and parents and teachers should not spare 
pains in surcharging the manners of the young with these forms 
which are the outcroppings of breeding. 

(9). The exhibition of true courage in time of trial, or in time of 
danger, or in time of a crisis in one's life, is not a common element 
among children, and too much cannot be said on this point to 
make its meaning clear to them in their training. 

It takes true courage in a boy that has no means of support, 
to resolve to get an education and gets up and goes after it. It 
takes true courage for a girl that has no parents, to resolve to get 
an education, and thus resolving, applies to a school and works 
her way through the school. 

It is manly courage for a boy that is left the only support of a 
mother, to resolve to support that mother by hard work. These 
and similar examples should be held up before the young in the 
work of training. 

(10). Cleanliness of person and of tongue should be the theme 



The Governed. 57 



of the teacher as he enters his school in September, and when 
he closes in May. 

The little urchin that wallows in the street and feeds on the 
grains of sand, the child that comes from home to school without 
having a mother or sister to wash his face or comb his hair, the 
careless child that evades the water and does not care to have his 
soiled clothes changed — all these must be taken care of by the 
teacher, and practical lessons of cleanliness so impressed in their 
little lives, that when they return from school, the teacher has 
saved them from the" consequences of fever, or the contagions 
which wait around to hurry such mortals home. 

Many times in our experience have we seen the teacher bring a 
comb to the school in order that she might have it handy to use 
on the heads of the little fellows whose mother was forced to leave 
for her daily employment without preparing her children for 
school. And we have seen the wash-pan brought full of water, 
and soap and towel used to prepare the faces of these children 
who were so unthoughtful as to forget to use water at home. 

Cleanliness is next to Godliness, it is said, and the work of im- 
pressing this early in life, is a task of home and school. 

(i i). Temperance lessons should form a very important part of 
the work of training the young. There is no subject to be taught 
in our public schools which should receive more thought by the 
teacher than the subject of temperance. 

The older ones of the Negro race that have been addicted to 
the habit of intemperance the greater part of their lives, are too 
far away from the influence of the church, the schools, and the 
workers of the temperance cause for much hope for their rescue. 
Saving men from the whiskey habit is like saving souls for God. 
Few old men who have grown old in sin, ever do much good for 
the church, even after they have joined the church. They have 
waited too late to do much good. So it is with an old whiskey 
drinker. He is a hard case to win from the bottle, and after he 
is won, he is not much service to the cause. 

The work of temperance, therefore, should commence with the 
children in the schoolroom and at home. Teach the child the 
evil effcts of strong drink, and it lakes hold of the principles 
early and will grow to love the doctrine of abstinence. 

The books now used in our schools on the subject of physiology 
have made prominent and deservedly so, the evil effects of 
strong drink upon the human system and we believe much is 
being done by the teachers in the public school, in making strong 
temperance men and women out of the children of our schools. 

5 



58 School- Room Helps. 



the book. If the book is in the hands of a wine bibber, there will 
be Httle done in the way of impressing the lessons on the minds of 
the pupils ; but in the hands of one who knows and feels deeply 
the evil effects of strong drink upon his race, there will not be 
lost an opportunity to teach lasting lessons. 

Let the teachers everywhere do work for the race on this score 
and save the boys who are fast becoming victims of strong drink, 
and consequently wrecks of a once promising manhood. 

(12) Self Control is an element which has to be tempered early 
in life when the babe lies kicking and screaming in the cradle. 
This is an element which is hereditary, as it will show its out- 
croppings all along the line in the family history. If the father 
or mother is given to fits of temper, if either or both of them has 
a peculiar turn of mind, or if there is any fixed characteristic in 
the family life, this special mark may assert itself at any time. 

It has been our special privilege to watch the appearance of 
some family mark, if we may call it such, in some member or 
members of a well known family, during our work among chil- 
dren, and we have never been disappointed in our search, for ir- 
ritability or impatience, or fits of anger which we knew to be the 
family characteristic, the only thing to be done was . to put 
under severe test the individual of the family, and we would 
not have to wait very long before the signs appeared — 
sometimes in mutterings, sometimes in "flashes of lightning;" 
giving vent to inward eruptions. The point which we wish to 
bring out is that self control is sometimes a family characteristic, 
and that sometimes it is not a family characteristic. 

When the teacher finds that the child is irritable, given to fits 
of temper, or is abnormal in any other ways, he should be patient 
and take his chances to teach a lesson of self control. It is the 
teacher's task, however flagrant the case may be, and, fortunate 
is the teacher that has the aptitude and power of application to 
seize the many opportunities which present themselves in his 
daily work, and use them in making rough ways smooth and 
leveling down hilly places in the life of his pupils. 

Self control is a rare element in the character of many of our 
pupils, and indeed, it may be said with equal truth that it is rare 
in the life of many of our teachers. But because it is rare, does 
not argue the fact that it should not be cultivated, for diamonds 
and rubies are rare, but on account of their worth, many thousands 
of people are at work digging for them, and find them by the mil- 
lions. 

One example will illustrate this subject. 

It is said of Roger Sherman that once upon a time when he was^ 



The Governed. 59 



wont to call his family to morning prayer and engaged in reading 
the Bible, his aged mother, his wife and the Httle pratthng babe 
were in their accustomed places around the family board. While 
Mr. Sherman read his Bible, his little pratthng child tottered over 
to him and began playing with the leaves of the Bible, when the 
father lightly tapped the little fellow on the face in order to be 
permitted to proceed reading, whereupon his aged mother moved 
over to him and gave him a fearful blow in the face with the in- 
junction, "You hit your child, and I shall hit mine." 

The sudden blow in the face stunned Mr. Sherman, and the 
blood rushed to his face, showing the confusion and shock which 
this unkind and unforewarned attack had given him. But in 
this hour of trial there was summoned to his command by aid of 
the Holy Spirit, all of the Christian courage and fortitude for 
which he had long prayed, and without saying one word, he 
turned to his Bible and finished the reading, and knelt down in 
prayer to God with all the fervor of the devoted soul. He was 
soon strengthened by the Holy Spirit which came, in this hour of 
trial and self control, to his aid, giving him solace and forbear- 
ance. 

Teachers sometimes give evidence of bad temper which has 
not been trained to the point of self control, and suffer the con- 
sequences which always follow the irrational and ill tempered. 

The disposition of children ought to be watched by parents and 
teachers and treated with much care while they are under train- 
ing, for it will be too late to try to change them after they are 
grown. 

(13). That Negro children, as a rule, are kindly disposed to 
their fellows, is commonly admitted, but it is not commonly ad- 
mitted that they are true in their friendships. No race, of all 
the races of mankind, is given to friendly companionship more so 
than is true of the Negro, and no race is as easily won over by 
attestations of loving kindness. It is a question whether these 
characteristics are sustained by true loyalty among the individ- 
uals of the race, for these are multifarious evidences of racial 
weakness along this line which would not bear investigation. 

The youth, therefore, should be taught to be kind to his fellows, 
even to his enemies. Kindness is a virtue and should be culti- 
vated in the young as well as any other good attribute. Some 
children are naturally kind, while others are naturally cruel, even 
to the lower animals. 

Teachers should not lose an opportunity to teach lessons of 
kindness, while the child is under training, in order that when it 
is old, it will not depart from them. As a rule, children who are 



60 School-Room Helps. 



kindly disposed to their associates, are kind to brutes, and vice 
versa. 

Lessons of kind treatment to animals at school, will result in 
tempering and mellowing this natural disposition in children, if 
the teacher is apt and constant in her training. The teacher's 
duty in this connection, is only a supplement of the parents' duty 
at home. When the child enters school, it ought to come with a 
stock of information about how to treat its playmates; how to 
treat the family horse, or the old milch cow, or little birds that 
build their nests in the orchard, or the little chicks that play in 
the yard. 

That children who show a disposition to be cruel to animals 
are of a "blood-thirsty" turn of mind, and develop into the crimi- 
nal class, has been argued by many people who are studying the 
question of animal treatment. 

It is said that a child that will persist in disregarding the rights 
of its companions, that will mistreat its own pet animals, that 
will kill the old bird and break up the nests in the orchard, will 
develop into a criminal. In other words, we see signs of murder 
in the life of a child that cannot be taught to be kind to animals. 

It is very important, therefore, that parents and teachers do 
their best work in the early years of the child's life. 

Summary — 

I — Negro children, as a rule, are kindly disposed. 

2- — Is the characteristic sustained by true loyalty? 

3 — Kindness as a virtue, should be taught the young. 

4 — Teachers should not lose an opportunity to teach lessons of 
kindness to pupils. 

5 — Lessons of kind treatment to animals should be impressed 
at school. 

6 — Teacher supplements the parents' duty. 

7 — When the child enters school, it ought to have a stock of in- 
formation, etc. 

8 — Children that are "blood-thirsty." 

9 — Signs of murder. 

(14). The capstone of all the attributes which fit man for so- 
ciety and lift him above the brute creation, is the one known as 
politeness. 

Kindness and politeness are twin sisters, for one can hardly ex- 
ist without the other. 

Teach the child at home to be polite to his parents and to elders, 
and it becomes second nature to him. It does not cost anything 
to be polite, but very often it wins for the possessor much for- 
tune. 



The (Governed. 61 



"Good morning, sir;" "Good evening, miss;" "I thank you, 
sir;" "If you please;" are greetings which the ordinary child 
should have in store for use at home, at school and along the 
streets, as it comes in contact with the people. 

As a rule, our children are not taught politeness, not even to 
old people. 

We say again, politeness costs nothing save a little training, but 
it sometimes brings splendid results. A man advertised once for 
a boy, but in doing so, he thought to say, "Wanted an industrious 
and polite boy. Apply in person to the office of Johnson and 
Brothers, No. 750 loth St., City." In a few days there were six 
boys one morning sitting in the office of Mr. Johnson when he 
entered, who upon entering saluted the boys thus: "Good morn- 
ing boys. How are you all?" He noticed that five of the num- 
ber remained sitting as he greeted them, and simply said, "Good 
morning," while one of the six arose, and very politely said, "Good 
morning, Mr. Johnson; how is your health?" to which boy Mr. 
Johnson extended his hand and gave a hearty shake. He then 
engaged in conversation with each of these boys in order to find 
out for himself, if possible, the home training. He had not gone 
very far with his test before he found that the boy that first 
greeted him so politely, was the only boy that could look him in 
the face and talk with any degree of intelligence, and was the 
only one that impressed him that his mother had given him the 
proper start in life. This boy was, therefore, employed and the 
others excused. 

The little boy should be taught at home and in school, to raise 
his hat to the women, which in itself bears the stamp of proper 
home training. 

The God of heaven is pleased with the young, when they show 
the proper respect to the aged, as was evidenced in the case of 
ieiisha in the Bible, when He caused a bear to come out of the 
woods and tear fifty children to pieces because they mocked His 
servant, Elisha. 

Many of our children are guilty of the similar offence, but God 
withholds his vengeance. We should teach the child to revere 
and honor the aged as well as their parents, that their days may 
be long upon the land which the Lord their God giveth them. 

{15). Gentleness in speech and manners is a characteristic want- 
ing, of course, in a savage. A want of true culture shows itself 
in one's manner of speech or of action. Some people try to as- 
sume dignity or culture, but such persons remind you of the 
country man who comes to town and tries to act as the city peo- 
ple act. He finds himself in an awkward position in somebody's 
else clothes which never fit. 



62 School- Room Helps. 



Children should be taught at home by their parents how to be 
gentle in their manners and courteous in their conduct. Much 
depends upon their home training in this regard, for whatever the 
mother is, the child will be also. 

We need, first of all, an educated and gentle mother and she 
will give us gentle children. A loud-mouthed, boisterous, noisy 
child, indicates the kind of training the home has given, or the 
kind of training that the home has allowed the child to contract 
which in itself reflects credit or discredit upon the home training. 
It does not suffice for mother to say, "I did not teach that child 
such manners," for she is responsible for it all the same. 

Of course, in the case of our ante-bellum mothers, or the mother 
whose condition has prevented the possibility of any self culture 
through the medium of schooling or otherwise, the responsibility 
rests lightly, and the thousands of children of such parents in our 
race are unfortunate, to say the least, to be borrt in ignorance and 
reared under such conditions in this country. There are thou- 
sands of children, we say, in this country, whose home training 
has been little or nothing, on account of the poverty or ignorance, 
or both, of the parents, and the child cannot go above its environ- 
ments. To say that nobody is responsible for this condition, is 
to say that nobody is responsible for the ignorance of the Negro 
in this country, since he was brought here from his native home in 
Africa centuries ago, in a savage state. He was brought to this 
country from his native home years ago, in a savage state, and 
sold into slavery, but who is responsible for his ignorance now, is 
a question which might be referred to the debating club to settle. 

It is not this question which we would discuss here, but it is 
Who is responsible, now, for the present "crop" of children? 
This question is easily answered, and every mother should answer 
it for herself. 

The mother in the home with the babe on her lap, should com- 
mence this training in manners and gentleness, and the teacher 
should take it up at seven, when the child enters for the first time, 
and thus the work carried on at home and at school in this way, 
will make of any ordinary child, a well behaved and evenly bal- 
anced child. 

There is no reason for Negro children to be so noisy, and ill- 
bred, only in the fact that the training is at fault. The Bible say- 
ing, "Train up a child in the way it should go: and when it is old, 
it will not depart from it," is good always, and applies to home 
training first of all Let it be understood, then, that the home is 
the center from which must be commenced early, a training nev- 
er ceasing in its efforts, and ever widening in its process, as long as 
the child is under the influence of that institution. 



The Governed. 63 



Summary — 

I — What to teach the Negro child. 

2 — Some specific lessons. 

3 — Some critics. 

4 — Lessons in morals. 

5 — The ladder of fame: (i) Honesty. (2) Obedience. (3) Truth- 
fulness. (4) Love of parents. (5) Gratitude. (6) Honor. (7) Fidel- 
ity. (8) Good manners. (9) Courage. (10) Cleanliness. (11) Tem- 
perance. (12) Self control. (13) Kindness to others. (14) Polite- 
ness. (15) Gentleness. 

(d). TREATMENT OF THE INDIVIDUAL. 

That children have rights which parents and teachers ought to 
respect > all will admit. The difficulty comes in where these 
rights are not respected. Parents and teachers are so liable to 
forget that children have any rights that need be respected, and 
thus they usurp every vestige to themselves, leaving the child 
robbed of all that is his, and convinced that he has been wronged. 

Children are little men and women, and should be treated so 
at home and at school. They have rights in the home, around 
the fireside, at the table, at school, which their parents and teach- 
ers should delegate to them without reservation, and they should 
be taken into the confidence of parents and teachers early in the 
transaction, in order that their relation may be seen and their 
duty understood. Mothers should make their girls their confi- 
dential companions, and they should be made to feel that what- 
ever is right, mother knows, and whatever is wrong, mother will 
point it out. 

As a general rule, our children are not confided in, nor are they 
taught early how to shun the pitfalls of vice and immorality 
which surround them early in life. So many of our girls and boys 
are turned loose at fourteen and fifteen years of age, to go at will 
where they soon learn how to choose the bad and shun the good. 
There is no reason in the world for the multitude of children 
turned loose upon our streets, as is the case in this country. 

We can account for it only in the light of the argument that 
parents do not give themselves to the proper training of children, 
and that instead of doing their duty as parents to their offspring, 
they shirk the responsibility and allow the children to grow up in 
vice and dirt and back alley garbage, which they prey upon 
around our towns. 

That Negro children need the same careful training as is given 
to children of other races, goes without question, if you are to 
make strong men and women of the race ; that our homes need in 



64 School- Room Helps. 



them the same careful and tender mother, ever mindful of their 
duty to the young, and ever vigilant as to their obligations and 
responsibilities, goes also without contradiction; but that we 
need much improvement along this score, does not take an eagle's 
eye to descry. 

Parents in the homes must so treat the children at home that 
they will grow in love for home and all that homes comprehend. 
The treatment of children at school, too, is a subject to which 
many teachers give but little attention and about which they are 
not much concerned, notwithstanding they are making teaching 
their life's calling, and are handling children daily. 

This goes to say that many people are engaged in a vocation 
during a lifetime, and finally die in the service, but die without 
ever having learned very much about the thing they have been 
doing all their days. 

That a blacksmith should work on iron for twenty-five years 
and not be able to tell the quality of iron, is to say that such a 
man was a machine in the hands of a hammer, rather than a man 
with a hammer. That a farmer who tills the soil for twenty 
years and grows various crops, is not conversant with the produc- 
ing qualities of soil, is to say that such a farmer was a plowing 
machine with no thought of how the crops came, or whither the 
crops were going. 

So the teacher that handles the minds of the young for many 
years, should be a student of child study at least, and should be 
better prepared than anybody else to discourse on various 
kinds of children and their adaptability, inclinations and capa- 
bihties, etc. The treatment of children, therefore, is a vital sub- 
ject for the teacher to handle, and each one engaged in this field 
should be armed with information to give out along this line. 

The point we wish to impress here, is that teachers as well as 
parents, should be prepared on this subject and should be wide 
awake to the demands of their profession. 

Let it be understood that life is too short to have the youth of 
the race in the hands of mothers who don't know how to give 
them the first lessons of preparation to commence this short life, 
and that teachers who do not know where to commence the 
training in the schoolroom — where the home leaves oflf, and who 
have no conception of the complex nature of the growth of the 
child which is consigned to their care in the schoolroom, are 
themselves among the back numbers. 

Summary — 

I — Children have rights which need be respected. 

2 — Mothers should make their girls their companions. 



The Governed. 65 



3— As a rule, children are not confided in — they are turned 
loose too early, and we can account for it only in one way. 

4 — The treatment of children in home and school. 

5 — People live and die without knowing their subject. 

6 — The blacksmith, farmer and teacher. 

7 — The treatment of children should be a subject which teach- 
ers, as well as parents, should understand. 

8 — Life is too short for mothers to be ignorant of their duty to 
the young. 

(e). INCENTIVES TO STUDY. 

Some school men would divide school incentives into two 
classes called Artificial Incentives and Natural Incentives. 

We shall discuss this topic under these two captions, without 
any attempt to follow the outline of such authors as Mr. E. E. 
White, who is very exhaustive on this subject. 

The question often arises, "What has the Negro child to inspire 
it to study? Should that child be stimulated with the same in- 
centives which inspire the Caucasian child in this country?" We 
shall discuss this topic, in the main, with a view to making a gen- 
eral application of all incentives to any race, but shall hope to 
make some specific references to the Negro child. 

Mr. White has given much space to this one topic, and outlines 
Natural Incentives into the "Royal Nine." We do not intend 
here, to discuss in detail the incentives as the old school men have 
done, but we do intend to follow up a line of thought purely our 
own on this topic, and hope to be able to make clear our point 
and aid someone who may desire light on this subject. 

For convenience let us discuss the subject. Artificial and Natur- 
al Incentives, as has been done by such authors as Mr. White, 
from whom we have freely quoted, and to whom we have often re- 
ferred. 

(i). Artificial incentives are those which are offered by the 
teacher for encouraging the student to study, therefore, they are 
called artificial. Teachers are divided in their opinion as to the 
nature and extent of these inducements, and many of them are 
wide apart in their application of them. " Some would not offer 
any inducement for study, other than their daily talk to pupils 
to encourage them to study. Others would go to the other ex- 
treme by offering any form of incentives which will induce pupils 
to do their best. 

There is another class of persons who are advocates of giving 
inducements to smaller children and none to older ones ; and still 
another class who would confine their inducements to older pupils 
who can appreciate them. We wish to take the middle ground 



66 School- Room Helps. 



and offer our opinion as to the class of incentives which we would 
use among the young to induce them to study. 

To say that no incentive should be offered in the schoolroom, 
is to say that the teacher is never to hold out to primary or ad- 
vanced pupils any stimulant or anything that would induce him 
to greater exertion, but that the pupil must get out of his studies, 
a love for study without the aid of the teacher. 

The horse on the track needs spurs to induce him to greater 
exertion. The great runners that win in the races are spurred on 
and urged on at every step of the way by the rider, and nothing is 
left undone which will force the animal to go to the front and stay 
there, once he is there. 

The custom of some teachers to buy presents for small children 
should not be looked on with favor, for the reason that it may 
create petty jealousies among pupils and extend to the parents, 
often to the detriment of the teacher's good intentions and his 
influences. Giving books or pictures or any form of such induce- 
ments is questionable, and for many reasons should not be used 
in the schoolroom. 

Prizes given to smaller children have also the same objection. 
But this form of inducement to advanced pupils cannot meet the 
same objection, since older pupils can more easily withstand 
and overcome the temptation to be envious and jealous of one 
another. 

Even this form of incentives should not be used simply for 
making pupils study. That they should be given with great 
caution, is the stamp that we would put upon them in the way of 
encouraging their use. We believe that their use in the hands of 
a skilful teacher is inducive to some good results. The offer of a 
prize for the best oration among advanced pupils, will spur them to 
greater efforts sometimes and thereby get out of them what the 
rider gets out of the horse spurred on to greater exertions. Educa- 
tion comes by effort, by continual exertion, and if the inducement 
to study will secure the desired result, it is worth the while to get 
the result. 

The offer of prizes by the best Colleges and Universities for the 
best Essay, or the best Oration, or the best English production, or 
the best Latin or Greek translation, can only produce good re- 
sults from students who have been spurred on to do their best. 
Some would hold that even the best efforts of such students are 
superficial and without permanent results. 

We have observed in this connection, some splendid accomplish- 
ments from students in these annual contests, some results which 
were permanent in the education and training of these students. 
When a student is encouraged to do his best, and does it — though 



The Governed. 67 



in a contest for a prize — the effect of the exertion is the same as if 
prompted by natural inchnations. The object of education is to 
know, and if the pupil is induced to exert himself along certain 
lines till he comes to know, we have accomplished the task of edu- 
cating. 

This argument, of course, does not attempt to explain away the 
motive behind the action. The motive may be selfish, or it may 
be superficial, but the result is good. 

Immunities from study is open for objections, also, but we are 
convinced that this form of inducement has more preferable fea- 
tures than the custom of giving prizes. Some teachers hold that 
the exemption of pupils from examinations as a reward for study, 
is an evil or may be regarded as an evil, since the exemption comes 
as a reward for study. 

If a student makes 96 per cent in his standing and is exempted 
from the term examinations, why consider the motive in exempt- 
ing the pupil? The pupil made the required standing and is not 
subjected to examinations, and this alone should be the prime con- 
sideration. In this case as in the former one, we see the results 
which the teacher is aiming at all the time. We do not mean, 
however, to imply that we are aiming at results and will accept 
them, even though they are acquired by fraudulent means. Not 
this! But we hold that results which come by honest effort stim- 
ulated by hope of final reward, is sufficient effort to get permanent 
results. 

Is there any effort worth while but that which comes with hope 
of reward? What causes the farmer to rise early and tarry long 
on his growing crop? What causes the merchant to stand over 
his counter constantly? In fact, what causes the Christian to 
pray and work and hope? Is it not for the reward which comes 
to the faithful and ever persistent soul? 

Immunities from tasks in the schoolroom often assist the 
teacher to hold his pupils to the work assigned without having to 
watch them, since the pupil has the inspiration needed. 

What we have said here has been with a view to emphasize our 
opinion formed from years of experience. There are objections 
which can be offered to all that has been said on these points, but 
that is true of any discussion. We have discussed Artificial in- 
centives, and now shall notice Natural incentives. 

(2). Under this topic someone has selected "Royal Nine," 
which we do not intend to discuss in this connection, but we shall 
liope to camp on our own ground and survey our own field. 

As mentioned in the beginning of this topic, someone has said 
that the Negro child has not the same incentives to study that the 
-white child has in this country. But let us survey the field and 



68 School- Room Helps. 



see what inducement is held out to the children of this country 
regardless of race or previous conditions, and let us see what pe- 
culiar incentives are held out to the Negro child. 

It is said that God created all men equal. Or, putting it in 
another's words, "Out of one blood has God created all men and 
set their limitations on the face of Mother Earth." Each child 
as it comes into the world is commissioned by Nature to be what- 
ever its circumstances and conditions in life will allow, and to 
work out its own salvation by the sweat of its own brow. Each 
child, as it is born into. the world, is surrounded by an environ- 
ment over which it has no control. If the environment is im- 
poverished and the family happens to be a member of an unfor- 
tunate race — if being born in humble circumstances is unfor- 
tunate — there is no way for such a child to extricate itself out of 
this condition, save in obedience to the command to work its way 
to fortune by dent of effort. The Negro child, therefore, has been 
commissioned by Nature to commence life on an equal footing 
with all other children. 

It so happens that Nature destined one thing, and environment 
another. This is to say that Nature limits the destiny of every 
child the same, but every child is circumscribed in its life by the 
environment in which it finds itself when it opens its eyes. What 
incentives are held out to these children as they open their eyes 
and commence to work on the commission given them by Nature? 

God has decreed "in the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread 
all the days of thy life," and in obedience to this command these 
children begin life. Riches and honor, wealth and fame await 
that child that is so fortunate as to be able to work out a fortune 
from its environment. 

Some children find themselves endowed with an inheritance be- 
queathed to them by a rich ancestry. Such children are the for- 
tunate ones which need not obey the command to work, since 
their bread has been made and their bounty fixed. Few children 
commence life under such favorable circumstances, but the mass- 
es commence life digging for bread according to Nature's com- 
mands. The Negro child belongs to the masses which must obey 
the divine injunction. Out of the masses may come children 
which by dint of effort force their way into the class of wealth and 
honor. 

Equal honors are held out to this class of children and the 
humblest child in the republic may rise by his own efforts to the 
highest place of wealth and fame. 

While Nature holds every child to one destiny, the Negro child 
in this country finds itself bound by an environment out of which. 



The Governed. 69 



it is almost impossible for it to rise. This is to say, that the in- 
ducements held out to the Negro child are not the same as those 
neld out to other children whose fortunes are wrung out of their 
environment. Nature is generous to every child regardless of 
condition, but home environments, social castes, political privi- 
leges all act to circumscribe the bounds of the Negro child to such 
extent as to make the inducements held out to this child 
limited in their extent and proscribed in their application. 

The teacher, notwithstanding these social and economic con- 
ditions over which he has no control, should use every means to 
inspire the Negro children under his charge with higher ideals of 
life, with love for virtue, for honesty, for truthfulness, for sobriety, 
and for those attributes of character which have made great men 
and women of all races. The teacher in the school should en- 
courage the Negro children to endeavor to extricate themselves 
and their race from the thraldom of ignorance and make a place 
for themselves among the races of mankind. The teacher should 
inspire the children under his charge to imitate the examples of 
other races that make their great men and their great women 
their models. 

Hold up as incentives the attributes of great characters in the 
life of individuals as follows : 

(i) Good scholarship, because it will do for the student what it 
has done for others who have made themselves great scholars. 

(2) High standing, because it will enable them to lead their 
class with honor to themselves and family. 

(3) The pleasure it brings to their family because of their stand- 
ing. 

(4) Wealth and honor which education may acquire. 

(5) A great name, which comes to the faithful student who 
works his way to fame. 

(6) In the life of George Washington and Lincoln who won 
fame from the jaws of obscurity and poverty. 

(7) In the life of Fred Douglass who was a slave, but who 
plucked fame from the uncultured brain of a poor Negro. 

(8) From the life of Booker T. Washington, whose only heri- 
tage was fifty (50) cents when he entered school. 

(9) 'From many of the Negro farmers who have made fortunes 
on the farms by dint of effort. 

(10) From the lives of noble women of the race who have risen 
to honorable distinction by hard labor and virtuous living. 

(11) The approval of a good conscience of having done right. 
f^ 1 2 ) The approval of our Heavenly Father. 



70 School- Room Helps. 



Summary — School Incentives — 

I — Some school men divide Incentives into two classes. 

2 — The question arises as to the Negro child. 

3— The "Royal Nine" by Mr. White. 

4 — A discussion of the purpose of incentives. 

5 — The horse on the track. 

6 — Buying presents by some teachers. 

7 — Prizes to small children. 

8 — Their use in the hands of skilful teachers. 

9 — Should not be used simply to make pupils study, but to get 
results as the rider gets results. 

10 — The use of prizes by colleges and universities. 

II — Our observation for years. 

12 — Stimulated to do the best, is education. 

13 — Does not explain away the motive. 

14 — Immunities from duties. 

15 — A student makes 96 per cent and is exempt. 

1 6- — Are there any efforts but that come with hope of reward? 

17 — Often relieves the teacher by holding the pupil to study. 

18^ — What is said is with a view to giving our long experience. 

19 — Natural incentives — The distinction between black and 
white children. 

20 — God created all men equal. 

2 1— Every child comes into the world commissioned by Nature 
and surrounded by environment. 

22 — What incentives are held out to the children of every race 
when they open their eyes? 

23 — God has decreed, etc. 

24 — Some child works its way to riches and honor; some have 
inheritance. 

25^ — The Negro child belongs to the masses, and there may 
come great men. 

26 — Nature holds out equal honors to all, but environment 
proscribes. 

27 — Teacher should inspire the child with higher ideals of life, 
love for honesty, truthfulness, sobriety; should encourage child 
to extricate himself from ignorance and make a place for himself 
and race. 

28 — Some imitate the example of other races — the models of 
the great men and women. 

29 — Hold up as incentives: good scholarship, high standing, the 
pleasure to family, a great name, life of Washington and Lincoln, 
life of Fred Douglass, life of Booker T. Washington, Hves of many 



Corporal Punishment. 71 



Negro farmers and lives of many other noble men and women of 
the Negro race, the approval of conscience. 
30 — The approval of our Heavenly Father. 

8^* ^* ^* 

VII. CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. 



(a). ITS USE. 
(b). ITS ABUSE. 

That corporal punishment has had its day in the schoolroom 
and is now considered one of the relics of the past, is a fact that 
the student of present day schoolroom methods will not deny. 

It is one of the signs of a monstrous oligarchy which once held 
sway over the minds of men, but whose kingdom has now been 
over-run by the advancing army of a progressive insurgency and 
whose remaining vestige is but the reflection of a departed glory. 

There are many reforms in progress in these times, and the 
minds of school men are never at rest as to the best method of 
procedure in the training and education of the young. Men 
differ as to the best method of getting results; and many of the 
school men have always held to the idea that corporal punish- 
ment in the schoolroom is still the surest way to secure obedience 
from the child and establish respect for authority. 

Much has been written and said about methods of punishment 
in the school room by men who have made teaching and training 
children their life's work; such men as White, Page, McMurray, 
Baldwin, Thompkin, Dinsmore, and a host of others, but none of 
them has offered a universal remedy — a panacea for the ills of 
the teachers and all the bad children. 

Children differ in their disposition and temperament as widely 
as men and women differ. What would suit the fancy of one man 
would not suit another, and what will suit one child will not suit 
another. This is to say that what will make one child obey will 
only irritate another. Some children can be treated like some 
horses — kindly and considerately — while others must be treated 
with firmness and sometimes without consideration. 

Some horses are so sensitive and high-spirited that they never 
allow their drivers to use a whip to move them. They make it a 
point to watch the driver to see when he attempts to use the whip ; 
then at once bound away so speedily as to make the use of the whip 
absolutely unnecessary and sometimes absolutely worthless in 
the hands of the driver. The driver, therefore, decides to dis- 
pense with the whip and leave the moving with the animal. 

Thus it has been in all generations of the world with children. 



72 . School- Room Helps. 



Some do not need the birch and would not receive it from the 
hands of a teacher, while others are so constructed that they do 
not care very much about the birch. If it is administered to them 
they take it as a matter of fact and make no effort to prevent its 
being administered to them. 

What we have said here is to make it clear that the nature of 
children, during all times, has been such that some of them have 
to be coerced and some of them do not need coercion. 

The old teacher under the old system of education, made use of 
the birch as a means of securing better results in books and in 
school management. There was no appeal from the birch if the 
pupil failed to get his lessons and failed to obey authority. 

With the book in one hand and the birch in the other, the peda- 
gogue of fifty years ago called out his class in "A, B, C's," or in 
"ba's" or in "ha's" or in "baker," and for every letter or word 
missed the pupil received a cut upon his back, or upon his hands, 
or over his head. 

We say there was no appeal from the birch. It was lesson or 
the birch, or it was implicit obedience or the birch was called in 
to know the reason why. Mr. E. E- White in his School Manage- 
ment gives three ends of punishment as (i) "To reform the wrong- 
doing; (2) to deter others from doing wrong; (3) to condemn 
wrong-doing." 

We wish to make a passing comment on these points by Mr. 
White, not with a hope of drawing out some new thought, but 
rather to give our viewpoint of them and thus add our note to 
what a great school master has said. 

(i). In our long experience in the schoolroom with wrong- 
doers, we have seen very few reformed by corporal punishment. 
If by reformation, here, is meant complete change of heart or 
purpose, we have seen few reformed. 

True, this is, or should be the purpose of the administration or 
infliction. But in nine-tenths of all the cases, true reformation 
is wanting. In most cases there is a check or superficial deter- 
mination on the part of the offender not to repeat the act which 
caused him or her pain ; but this determination is not permanent, 
as may be seen in the inclination on the part of many to repeat 
the act at the first opportunity. 

Corporal punishment which gives pain to the offender, usually 
leaves in the mind of the individual revenge, vindictiveness, and 
a disposition of obstinacy. This is true even in the case of small 
children when their parents are the ones who inflict the punish- 
ment. Some cases, of course, are the exceptions — where children 
repent when they are punished and resolve in their minds never to 
repeat the offense. 



Corporal Punishment. 73 



The point we wish here to emphasize is that in our experience, 
corporal punishment very rarely completely reforms the offender. 
It may be argued therefore, since there is a question as to whether 
it reforms the offender, why administer it at all? We will ex- 
press our thoughts on this point more fully as we shall discuss the 
topic hereafter. 

(2). Since corporal punishment inflicts pain, and since pain 
is offensive to every individual, it does act in a way to deter from 
wrong-doing. When one boy sees another whipped, it does have 
the effect on his mind to deter him from doing the same thing 
which caused pain to his school-mate. He reasons that if they 
whipped John, they will whip me for the same offense 

But is it the right kind of prevention to frighten a child to make 
him obey authority? This kind of restraint may be compared 
to a pent up volcano which is only seeking a vent in the earth to 
break through and throw its powerful accumulations over acres 
of the surrounding country. Give the pupil a chance — or, in 
other words, make corporal punishment a common resort — and 
pupils soon become used to it and will have little or no dread of it. 

(3). The question is, does it permanently deter? It does put 
the seal of condemnation upon wrong-doing, but does it give the 
proper kind of seal? Does it not give the same kind of seal to 
offenses as it had upon the minds of the common criminals when 
they are arrested, put in jail, etc. ? It may deter some from doing 
crime, but it does not deter all; for crime is being committed daily 
in the face of the fact that men are being punished all the time for 
their crime. 

Condemning wrong does not prevent others from doing wrong. 
It may prevent some from doing wrong, but others it would not 
effect. 

We have made these leading observations at the beginning of 
this topic with a view of dissenting somewhat from the general 
accepted discussion on these points; and now shall enter into the 
subject as outlined, with the view of giving our long experience 
for the benefit of those who may chance to read it. 

The use of corporal punishment in the schoolroom as a cor- 
rective, runs parallel with the system of education in all ages and 
in all countries of the world. The minds of men do not run to the 
contrary when the birch was not called in to do service with the 
suitable candidate suspended between the heavens and the earth, 
and his appendages made ready with the necessary preparations. 

The birch, therefore, has come down to us from the misty past; 
and notwithstanding methods and management come and go- 
books and doctrines have become obsolete, nothing has ever come 
to completely change this custom. 

6 



74 School-Room Helps. 



Boards of education, superintendents and principals of schools 
all over this country have differed among themselves as to the 
application of this custom, and States have discussed the matter 
with a view of discontinuing it in the schools; but after all, the 
resolutions and enactments have passed and everybody settled 
down to the final analysis, the birch is called for and the offender 
given the same dose which the fathers of the ages have prescribed. 

The objection offered by many of the school people to the con- 
tinued use of corporal punishment in school, is that it is a relic of 
bygone days, and is not in keeping with present day methods. 
As indicated above its use in the schoolroom has never been en- 
tirely dispensed with and — notwithstanding its condemnation by 
many of the school authorities — it seems impossible to find a sub- 
stitute for it. 

In our own experience we have seen the birch come and go. It 
simply means that nothing can take the place of impressions 
made upon the person of the individual with a birch when that 
impression is made for the purpose of maintaining authority. 

Some people argue that moral persuasion is more humane and 
most effective in accomplishing the ends desired. But how many 
advocates of moral persuasion have succeeded so well that they 
have entirely dispensed with the birch ? How many of these people 
havc become so thoroughly convinced by their experience that 
they now advocate moral suasion in place of the old custom? 

We have hved two generations, and tried the old and the new 
kinds of correctives. We have seen a time when we were great 
advocates of corporal punishment, and were not only advocating 
but demonstrating daily in a practical way, its efficiency on the 
personality of the offenders; and have watched the success of 
teachers under our charge who have been advocates of both meth- 
ods, and being thus armed with this varied information, we are 
prepared to say that we advocate the moderate use of both meth- 
ods. In other words, as we pointed out in the beginning of this 
chapter, some children must be given the birch before they will 
obey authority, and some can be moved by moral suasion. The 
teacher should be wise enough to select the pupils and the proper 
remedy for each case. 

The teacher that flogs his pupils at the least provocation is in- 
discreet, to say the least. To call a boy up before the school and 
have him partially disrobe himself and flogged before the school 
because he missed his lesson or broke some rule of school, may 
have been good government by some of the old-timers, but it is 
hot good government now, any more than the shotgun policy is 
good government in Texas in time of small-pox epidemic. It is 
better to suit the remedy to the case. We believe corporal pun- 



Corporal Punishment. 75 



ishment should be given in flagrant cases when all else has failed, 
and when persuasion is out of place. It is our opinion that cor- 
poral punishment is abused when administered ( i ) to get results 
out of the textbook; (?) indiscriminately on pupils without regard 
to the nature of the offense; (3) out of revenge, or to get even with 
a student; (4) when moral persuasion or milder means will secure 
the same ends. 

As a rule, the inexperienced teacher resorts to corporal punish- 
ment to cover his shortcomings. What we mean here, is that the 
teacher in the schoolroom is seen through his management or mis- 
management of the children under his charge. If he or she is 
tactful and skilful in the management and control, there will be 
little or no trouble or rubbing in the government; but if, on the 
contrary, there is no tact nor skill in the management, the teacher 
will be seen through the kind of government which he sets up. 
The teacher in the meantime sees himself failing in the manage- 
ment, and attempts to improve by the means of the floggings and 
scoldings and occasionally a "bawling out" of the whole school. 

We are not advocating the policy of no corporal punishment, 
for we have already made it plain that this policy has never been 
supported by the facts sufficient to put it upon a permanent basis ; 
but we do maintain that the time has come when teachers should 
"study war no more," and that in many cases, prudence mixed 
with common sense, there needs be no corporal punishments. I^et 
us here give examples of some cases to assist us in making 
plain our view on this point. 

In a certain schoolroom we have seen the teacher handle a case 
thus: A pupil is threatened by the teacher to be whipped if he 
comes to school next day without committing to memory ten 
verses of poetry to be recited to the class as a punishment for 
failure on the part of the student to get his lessons. The student 
goes home and undertakes the task assigned him by his teacher, 
but having a poor memory, he comes to school next morning with- 
out his task having been completed. The teacher to keep his 
word, gives the student a severe flogging,, makes another promise 
and sends the student back with his task increased to fifteen 
verses. 

This is poor training on the part of the teacher, we think. If 
the task had to be assigned, why make a threat to flog the pupil? 
Why not give other inducements to the pupil to learn his verses ? 
Why not point to some of the good results of learning his lessons, 
and inspire him to action in that way? 

Another pupil is flogged by the teacher because he communicated 
with his seat-mate without permission from the teacher. Why 
not shift the student from his seat-mate or move the cause and not 
flog the pupil without spending some time to teach a lesson which 



76 School-Room Melt's. 



the pupil may not have had taught him before? With every 
offense committed by the student, comes the opportunity to teach 
a lesson of morals or practical living. 

A pupil tells a lie about the theft of a pen from his seat-mate, 
and is called up by the teacher and given a severe flogging with- 
out any attempt on the part of that teacher to take the oppor- 
tunity to teach the pupil evils of lying and the good effects of not 
lying. 

These are examples of a want of foresight or forethought on the 
part of the teacher, and are sufficient to make clear our point. 
Summary : — 

I — The day of corporal punishment. 
2 — Reformers. 

3 — Men who have written about corporal punishment. 
4 — Children differ in disposition as men differ. 
5 — Horses differ and children. 
6 — The old teacher with birch in hand. 

■J- — Mr. White's three ends the argument for and against each. 
8 — The birch has come down to us from the misty past. 
9 — Board of Education, etc. 

lo — In two generations, and have tried both methods. 
1 1 — Teacher should select the pupil and the remedy. 
12 — To call up a pupil and have him pull his coat, etc. 
13 — When corporal punishment should be given. 
14 — When it is abused. 

15 — The inexperienced teacher resorts to it. 
16 — We do not advocate no corporal punishment. 
17 — In a certain schoolroom how administered. 
18 — Why not change the pupil, etc. 
19 — With every offense comes the opportunity for instruction. 

^* j^* 4^* 



VIII. DISCIPLINE. 



(a) The discipline of a school depends entirely upon the char- 
acter of the teaching force. The discipline of an army depends 
upon the character of the officers employed. The soldiers' ef- 
ficiency in military tactics cannot be judged apart from their 
trainers. Indeed, we see in the soldiers' skill and daring, the ef- 
ficiency of the general. So with the pupil and teacher. 
[- The pupils are under discipline from the time they enter school 
at six years old, until they come out of college at eighteen or 
twenty. The character of the training is seen in the life of the 
grown-up man or woman. It can hardly be held, however, that 



Discipline. 77 

all students are true representatives of their teachers, any more so 
than it can, be held that all soldiers are true representatives of 
their generals, or that all children are true representatives of their 
parents. Sometimes soldiers train for many years and leave the 
army without having learned the tactics which their generals at 
tempted to train into them. 

It is true also of children under correct training of a parent. 
Sometimes a child shows no signs of the careful hand of its parents, 
though the training by that family has been of the most specific 
and painstaking. But while we should have room for exceptional 
cases, the rule will hold good, in the main, that like teacher like 
pupil. 

The training of children at school depends very much upon the 
training which they have received at home. If that home train- 
ing has been exact and the child has learned at home to obey or- 
ders, the discipline at school will be comparatively easy. This is 
to say, that such a pupil finds it easy to obey the commands of 
the teacher when he realizes that the school has commenced where 
home left off. 

In our experience with children of our race, we find a large class 
of children in our schools whose home training is only negative, 
and whose tendencies are ever antagonistic to authority. The 
child is not to blame for its abnormal tendencies, for nature dis- 
poses one to abnormality when not under proper restraint. Many 
of these children have no parents to care for them, but are trying 
to come up under the careless guardianship of someone disposed 
to stand as their guardians, but who have never assumed control 
over these children nor undertaken to train them. 

In this connection, we wish to sound the note of alarm and send 
it down the line to the parents and guardians of the children of 
the race, to the end that they may wake up to the great respon- 
sibility of training the young. The children that crowd our pub- 
lic schools are in great need of the proper kind of training, which 
need shows itself in resistance to authority, in habits of loafing, of 
quitting school before they have attained any scholarship, of in- 
dolence and a lack of the power to think upon anything serious. 

There is much said and written about the training of children 
at school, but we are in position to say what we know through long 
years of personal management of children, that the home must 
get on the ground floor in this business of child training; if not, 
there is not much effective progress made in the schoolroom by 
the teacher. The teacher can only muddy the stream that flows 
from the fountain much higher than the schoolhouse. 

What can the teacher do with a fifteen year old girl who is dis- 
posed by home indulgences to have what she wants, say what she 



78 School- Room Helps. 



pleases, go where she wishes, come when she has nowhere else to 
go, and does service when she is not lazy? Or what can be ex- 
pected of a teacher in the training of a boy who has been taught to 
smoke and chew tobacco at home by lighting his father's pipe, or 
first sampling the plug of tobacco which he brought from the 
store for father, or who has been allowed to run wild over the 
town all day and part of the night, uses all the curse words em- 
ployed by Webster, has learned all the slang and obscene language 
dropped on the streets by the leaders of vulgarity? The training 
of such children, as a rule, in the schoolroom, is like washing the 
hair from a hog's back by pouring on water. 

While the task is a prodigious one from which results are not as 
large as one desires, it is worth while, perhaps, that work be done 
on them by schools of the land. Were it not for the hope of edu- 
cating and training these urchins, were it not for the saving of 
some of them by the teachers, the race would suffer fearful com- 
parison with other races. 

Discipline at school consists of many things which must be said 
over and over a thousand times in the life of a pupil, and the 
teacher must be very persistent if he would succeed. Be polite 
in your conduct, be kind to your playmates, study your lessons, 
don't quarrel, don't fight, don't sit in cramped position, walk up- 
rightly, stand erect, don't frown, don't lie, don't steal, don't fret, 
don't shirk, don't play, and a hundred and fifty other commands 
are given each day, and the teacher, to do any good, must make 
each command with equal emphasis. He must not appear to 
tire, nor must he be jesting. 

We intimated above that it is time for an alarm to be sounded 
and heralded down the line to all members of the race interested 
in the training and education of the young; and we desire here to 
repeat this alarm with double emphasis, in regard to the training 
of the Negro boy. This subject is attracting the attention of 
lovers of race progress, and is giving much concern to every 
parent that hopes to see his off-spring started off in life in the 
right direction. "Where is my boy to-night?" is sounding in the 
hearts of thousands of mothers of the race, who in reality cannot 
tell where is that ten year old boy that is wandering up and down 
the earth seeking whom he may devour. 

Our public speakers are at work on this subject in church and 
on the rostrum, but the real core has not been reached. The boy 
is still at large, and little or no training is being done to save him 
from the consequences of debauchery and shame. It is said that 
a chain is no stronger than its weakest link. We say, too, that no 
race is stronger than its weakest point. The strongest point in 
the growth and structure of a race, is in its men. If there are 



Discipline. 79 

strong men, full of virtue and all of the attributes which combine 
to make racial greatness, then we call such a race great; but if, on 
the contrary, such a race has a growth of men who are not given 
to virtue, not following after those things which tend to make 
men great, then we say such a race is destined to be weak, since 
it cannot be stronger than its weakest point. It stands to reason, 
therefore, that the race which hopes to survive in the struggle of 
life, must train its men in those attributes which give power of 
mental development. 

The Negro boy must be trained at home on his mother's knee, 
to love virtue and to eschew those things which tend to weaken 
mentality. The Negro boy must be nursed by a virtuous mother 
who will train and inspire the son to follow the examples of the 
heroes who have gone before and left their footprints on the sands 
of time. 

We appeal to mothers and fathers to awake in this matter of 
training, and save the wandering boy from the streets and places 
of debauchery in our cities ; lead these boys to the Sunday Schools 
where they may be trained in the Bible, to love those virtues 
which tend to ennoble men and prepare them for usefulness in 
this life, and for immortality in the life to come; lead the Negro 
boy away from the dens of shame and the haunts of vice to the 
church where the Gospel of the Son of God is preached, where the 
principles of Christianity can be early taught and where this pure 
influence can shape his life for service in the church and society; 
lead the boy from the influence of whiskey and strong drink, 
which is the curse of the race, to those habits of living which will 
make strong characters out of weaklings ; lead the boy from gam- 
bling and Sabbath-breaking to habits of thrift and industry, in 
order that he may be prepared to meet the stern realities in the 
great struggle of life. 

Finally, lead the boy to love education and hold up to him the 
examples of Washington, Lincoln, Fred Douglass, Booker T. 
Washington and Toussaint L' Overture, who made their way over 
impregnable fortresses. 

(b) PASSING OF CLASSES. 

The passing of classes in the school is an opportunity for train- 
ing and discipline that must not be overlooked by the teacher, 
as there is no better time to teach, than when there is a pupil and 
the occasion. 

Pupils are prone to break lines, talk in line as they march, 
strike at one another, get out of order because it looks "funny," 
and to do many other things to appear out of order, and the 
teacher, then and there, must get in his work of training which is 
to have its effect on the life of the pupil. It is not sufficient or 



80 School- Koom Helps. 



the proper thing to do, to have a rule for pupils not to talk in the 
passing, or not to break line ; but the thing to do, is for the teacher 
to set up a standard of what is required of classes as they pass, 
and then the discipline follows when the standard has not been 
reached by the class. If the class, as a whole, has failed to main- 
tain the standard, then the whole class should be disciplined; but 
if the individual is the cause, then the teacher should attempt to 
locate and place the responsibility on the guilty. 

Teachers are sometimes inclined to discipline a whole class for 
what one member is guilty of — though the responsibility points 
to the individual. The President of the United States was cen- 
sured for dismissing a whole battalion of soldiers for what it ap- 
peared a few individuals of the troops had done. This is a point 
in discipline which is very perplexing at times to settle and should 
be handled with much care, lest the innocent suffer for what the 
guilty has done. 

(c) THE INDIVIDUAL. 

The Individual in school discipline is the point of attack. 
There is where the teacher is to do his work of training as indi- 
cated in the above topic. The disciplining of class units is not 
fair to the individuals which compose the class, for there are so 
many chances for mistakes on the part of the; teacher. 

In every class composed of any considerable number of pupils, 
there is one, and sometimes several, who are disposed to furnish 
all the racket or all the fun for the whole class, while there are 
others who are disposed to keep all the school regulations and 
maintain at all times a high standing in deportment. 

Children, and even grown-up students, are like the people in 
general are, in Texas. In other words, school children are like 
grown people^some planning all the time on beating the State 
in some way out of its rightful dues, while others are planning all 
the time to comply with every demand put upon them by the 
State. The class of beaters, for the most part, is fewer by far 
than the class that try to meet the requirements of the State; for, 
were it not so, then the government would be a failure and bank- 
ruptcv and disruption would be the inevitable consequences. 

So there is at all times a class of students who endeavor to main- 
tain and respect the regulations of the school, and upon this class 
of pupils rests the government of the school As the state en- 
deavors to find the beaters and cheaters, and sometimes seizes 
upon their property for the purpose of reimbursing itself for 
what these people had withheld from it, so the teacher should go 
ovt after the individual offenders in the school and endeavor to 
bring them to account for robbing the classes and the school of 



Discipline. 81 

their rightful dues. The point to be aimed at all the time in 
school government, is the same as the point which the State has 
in view — the establishment and maintenance of a government by 
the people, of the people, and for the people. In the State, it is 
the individual responsibility and collective responsibility, and in 
the school it should be the same. 

The individual that disturbs the harmony of the class unit, is 
as much an offender as the bank robber who offends the laws of 
the State, though in degree, the crime of the pupil is not as hei- 
nous as that of the robber. Students in classes are disposed to do 
their deeds and hide themselves behind the class unit — especially 
so when it is the custom of the teacher to shoulder responsibility 
on the class. Wilful student offenders are like wilful adult of- 
fenders in the matter of hiding their identity. The teacher that 
is vigilant in the matter of establishing and maintaining a high 
standard of government, will succeed in proportion as he will en- 
force individual responsibility. 



(d). YARD SUPERVISION. 

Yard Supervision in school government is a very important 
part of the school program, and should receive its due consider- 
ation in the school regulations. 

This is, as a rule, done in city schools where there is a graded 
system of schools and a corps of teachers employed, but in the 
rural districts there is little or no attention given to pupils on 
the playgrounds, since in most places there is employed in the 
rural school only one teacher who takes the recess periods to rest 
his fatigued brain after working with 75 or 90 pupils in one class 
room. 

Yard supervision in city or district is highly necessary to train 
and discipline pupils to respect the rights of others. In the mat- 
ter of sports and games, children are like grown-up people. Some 
people in Texas or Georgia want the earth and a fence around it, 
and will fight for the whole right of the fence. Children will do 
likewise. The laws of the state must regulate the ownership of 
property to prevent the rightful owner from being cheated out 
of his own, or run away from his own. The laws of the state 
must regulate the shooting of game in the forest, to prevent 
some selfish fellow from shooting all the game. 

On the school yard the same matter comes up for adjust- 
ment among the children. One pupil is naturally selfish, 
and wants all the ball to himself, and defies anyone to dispute his 
selfish right. The presence of the teacher sometimes enables him 
to teach a lesson which will come in play in the civil government 
of these pupils in after years. 



:82 School- Room Helps. 



Some child wants to play all the time, to the exclusion of all 
others. Some will seize the property of others and disregard the 
rights of the owners. Some steal the property of others and bring 
up false witnesses to prove their ownership. Some will bribe 
their playmates to establish their false claims. The presence of 
the teacher on the grounds will, most times, prevent these prac- 
tices and make the playgrounds a place of healthy, moral growth, 
as well as pleasure and physical growth. 

The presence of the teacher has a moral effect in the way of pre- 
venting the larger students from imposing on the smaller. Were 
it not for the laws of Texas or Georgia, the lawless element would 
swoop down upon the poor, defenseless Negro, seize his property 
and run him out of the State. So there is at school, in some pu- 
pils, that lawless element which, if allowed to assert itself, would 
run all the little fellows away and take possession of the grounds. 

The element of rule or ruin is especially dominant in some of 
the Afro-American children whose antecedents have been im- 
poverished with culture and whose environments have been con- 
ducive of those tendencies which characterize their ancient fore- 
fathers in their native home. The teachers of our school should 
feel especially called upon to spend much of their time among the 
pupils, to the end that children, who have not had the parental 
training at home, will be taught on the school yards as well as 
elsewhere, all those attributes which will go to make them law- 
abiding citizens in Texas in after years. 

Yard supervision in the rural districts has the same meaning as 
in the city or graded school. It only entails more work on the 
teacher, but it may pay in the long run. The presence of the 
teacher on the grounds, in a certain district school, would have 
prevented a great cutting fray which resulted in the serious 
wounding of a boy, whose life for several days, hung on a very 
slender thread. The presence of the teacher would have nipped 
the trouble in its incipiency and thus saved him from much anxiety 
and criticism. 

Some school authorities even advocate the participation of the 
teacher into the games and sports of the pupils. This is true of 
the teacher who loves sports to the extent that he desires to take 
part in them. But what about the large class of teachers that 
does not like sports to the extent of participating? The Author 
is one of the latter class which must content himself to stand 
around and look on. In view of the fact that everybody does not 
care to actively engage in sports, it may be sufficient to say that 
teachers should be present on the grounds and direct the sports 
•of children. 



The Recitation. 83 



IX. THE RECITATION. 



(a). TEACHER'S PREPARATION. 

The recitation is where the teacher and pupil meet to count up 
the results of the research of the student. The teacher should be 
the first to prepare for the recitation. Let's see what the teacher 
has to do to get ready for the meeting of the pupil. 

He assigns the lesson. That is, he is to judge how much of the 
text the pupil is capable of mastering in one recitation. Then the 
teacher should prepare the work assigned the class. Preparation 
on the part of the teacher should mean more than is usually meant 
by some teachers— that is, "You will please take the next ten 
pages." It should mean that the teacher has gone over the work 
assigned, and knows that it is what the class can digest m a given 

period. . 

The assignment of a lesson presupposes two important requi- 
sites on the part of the teacher. First, that the teacher under- 
stands the work assigned on account of having looked over it and 
made such reviews as will put him in possession of fresh informa- 
tion Second, that the teacher understands the capacity of his 
pupils to the extent that he knows what they can comprehend m 

a given time. , r i •-.. 4.- 

The teacher's daily preparation is the soul of the recitation. 
This is to say that if the teacher knows well what he assigns as a 
lesson he can easily prepare the class with the necessary light for 
its research. It is not sufficient that the teacher has gone over 
the lesson once upon a time. Certainly, no teacher will pretend 
to teach who has never taken the course which he pretends to 
give others. This goes without saying. But the class should 
" have the teacher's fresh knowledge on the subject. 

The teacher was in school twenty years ago, and had the work 
which he now teaches. He has lost much by shrinkage ; some by 
leakage and some by absorption. He knows the text, but he has 
lost what the standing brook loses— its freshness and enthusiasm. 
It becomes necessary, therefore, that he should make daily prepa- 
rations in order to have his knowledge from the running stream, 
and not from the stagnant pool. t,+ u v,- 

The teacher's desk should contain the books taught by him, as 
well as many books of reference as he can obtain. It does not 
help the teacher nor his class, for him to place himself under the 
excuse of not being able to have the books of his classes; for the 
classes under his instruction must be fed daily from, his fountain^ 
whether fresh or stagnant, and however his circumstances, the 
responsibility is the same. 



84 School- Room Helps. 



In Afro-American schools where the teaching force is Hmited, 
and where Httle is done to reheve the crowded condition of the 
schools, one teacher has an accumulation of classes, making prep- 
aration in all the studies almost impossible. When conditions 
are thus in any school, it is unfortunate for that teacher and for 
that school, to say the least about it. 

The preparation of the lesson by the teacher should consist in 
selecting from the spelling lesson, all the difficult words to be used 
by the class; from the grammar lesson, the best sentences to be 
used to teach a practical lesson in language; from a history lesson, 
all available facts bearing on the lesson with focal dates and refer- 
ences; from the arithmetic class, the most appropriate problems 
to be used by the class to illustrate the principle to be taught to 
the class; in geography, all places looked up, all material and data 
selected ; in the reader, all references run down and all apphcations 
made ; in the science class all material selected and experiments, 
made- — and throughout the whole course of the school curriclum. 
one day in and one day out. 



(b). PUPIL'S PREPARATION. 

This subject may be divided into three grades, for the purpose 
of pointing out our view on the grade work from Primary depart- 
ment to High School, and what we shall offer on the subject, may 
be applied to rural school as well as city school. 

We intimated in the above discussion on teacher's preparation, 
that at the recitation the teacher and pupil meet to review the work 
of the pupil. This is to say that the pupil has been assigned a 
lesson and has done what he could in the preparation of that les- 
son, and meets the teacher to exhibit the results of his work. 

In this connection, as suggested, we shall discuss this subject 
under Primary, Grammar and High School divisions, with a view 
of making application to Rural school work. 

(i) In the Primary school it is held by experienced teachers- 
that pupils on account of their age, don't need to be made study 
their lessons at home, but that the lessons developed by the teach- 
er in the class is all that is to be expected from such pupils. 

This is to say, that the children in the primary grades should 
not be confined to study on account of the simplicity of their les- 
sons. 

We would suggest that even in the second year of the child's 
work at school, some considerable work can be done by pupils at 
home. The reading lesson assigned by the teacher, can be read 
over at home by the pupils, the number work gone over by mother 
or big sister, and the spelling words studied to advantage. 



The Recitation. 85 



The amount of work necessary to be done by the pupils in this 
department will depend upon the nature of the work, and the 
ability of the class to comprehend. 

Our purpose here is to emphasize the fact that we believe in 
pupil preparation at home in proportion as they understand and 
advance in knowledge. We wish also to combat the idea as ad- 
vanced by some teachers, that pupils do not need to study at 
home. 

In our experience in teaching, we have noted especially the ad- 
vancement made by pupils whose parents watch over their les- 
sons and assist them at home in getting their lessons. They ad- 
vance more rapidly and recite better each day, than the class of 
pupils who never see their books from the time school closes till 
they return to school next day. 

The Afro-American children suffer in comparison with chil- 
dren of other races, because of the fact that the majority of our 
parents are not educated, and cannot assist their children in their 
studies when they are at home around the family board. In- 
stead of helping the child with its lessons at night, many of our 
parents spend their time in telling ghost stories around the fire, 
and very often the child is frightened almost into a fit and could 
not get a lesson though it tried ever so hard. 

(2) The pupils of the Grammar school or in rural schools, in the 
fifth, sixth and seventh classes should be required to prepare their 
work at home with much care and exactness. 

There is little advancement made with such students when they 
depend wholly upon the work of the teacher. 

Children of this class have the power and grasp of mind that 
enable them not only to learn what has been assigned to them by 
the teacher, but new facts are added daily to their stock of in- 
formation when they study at home on their own account. 

Indeed, the teacher is not to be considered a machine to pour 
into the minds of his pupils the contents of the books. Informa- 
tion poured into the mind, does not remain in the mind long at 
the time. It will soon banish from memory as the dew from vege- 
tation. The lessons learned by the student himself, will follow 
Mm and become a part of a living stock of knowledge which will 
broaden as he advances. 

(3) The High School pupil is better prepared to do work at 
home than the Grammar student, for he is equipped with years of 
training in the habits of study, and is mature in years as well. He 
knows the value of study and should be, at this stage, independ- 
ent and self-reliant. 

It is not uncommon, however, to see students in our public 
High schools who never have any system of study any more 



86 School-Room Helps. 



than pupils of lower grades. In fact, leave their books at school 
from day to day, and do not need them. Of course, this is the 
class of pupils that has no ambition, whose parents have no in- 
fluence over them in the way of training them at home to habits 
of study. 

We believe it is just as essential for students of our High schools 
to study at home and prepare their lessons for recital, as it is for 
the College students to do so, for the High School is only a step 
lower than the College, and whatever the habits are, contracted 
during the years of preparatory training, will follow the student 
in after life. 

The parents of our children should see to it that they form 
habits of study which will bring results in after years. 

The average student about our cities, who has by some hook or 
crook, gotten in the High School classes, shows no signs of studious 
habits, and thus accomplishes but little. 

It takes study and concentration of thought to accomplish any- 
thing above the ordinary, and, if Negro students don't acquire 
the habit, they cannot become masters in the thought world. 

Parents should see to it that their children have a study period 
at home, and insist that they observe the period. At College 
there is a study period which students are required by regulations 
to observe. It takes this to insure good and permanent results. 

In our High schools, pupils are out at night around town keep- 
ing late hours and doing no study whatever, and yet making good 
grades and being promoted. It is a wonder how some of them 
ever make a grade, if it takes application to make grades. 

(c) The effect on the life of the student that the study habit 
will afford, is wonderful. 

The recitation is the place where the student can be trained to 
habits of study which will tell much in the life of the student in 
after years. 

The movement of the students from class to class; the posture 
of the individuals in the class at the time of recitation, the manner 
of standing and holding one's self at the time of recitation, are all 
habits which impress themselves into the life and character of the 
student in such glaring generality as to shape the whole life of the 
individual. 

Let the student recite in a careless and incoherent manner; let 
him play a part of his time, while the recitation is in progress, let 
him come to his classes from day to day without having made 
preparation, and you send such a student out in life equipped with 
such weapons as will bring him fruitage characteristic of his daily 
habits. 

Habit is a great master. It is said that life is only a bundle of 



Fifty Nevers in the School-Room. ■ ST 



habits, and thus the pupil contracts such habits as will affect his 
life, since every act of one's life is but the reflection of his many 

habits. , , / N 

(d) The Special Ends of the recitation may be stated as: (i) 
To test the pupils' knowledge of the subject, (2) To harmonize 
his knowledge with the teacher's knowledge. That is, to judge 
whether the pupil's conceptions of the subject are formed properly. 
(3) It increases the pupil's power of communication and estab- 
Hshes confidence in himself. (4) It makes prominent the salient 
points in the character of the student, in that the teacher can 
judge whether the pupil is industrious or indolent; is tenacious 
or pugnacious; is timid or bold; is reticent or communicative; 
weak or courageous. 

i^ 9^ i^ 

X. FIFTY NEVERS IN THE SCHOOL- 
ROOM. 



1. Never be tardy if you want to set example, to pupils, of 

punctuality. 

2. Don't threaten pupils, and never carry it out. It is not 

safe to threaten anyway. 

3. Never promise your pupils what you never try to perform. 

4. Never be hasty in making decisions, when you are in doubt 
as to the right or wrong of your action. 

5. Never complain of action of parents before children. 

6. Never scold or fret before your school? 

7. Never take advantage of a pupil, or mistreat him without 
apologizing for your action. 

8. Never strike a pupil in revenge. 

9. Never show partiality by having "pets" in school. 
ID. Never strike a pupil over the head. 

II. Never punish a pupil because of some action of the parent. 
12! You should never hold a pupil up for ridicule before the 

school. ^ , . -1 • 

13. You should never accept costly presents from pupils or give 

them to favorites. 

14 Never chew tobacco or drink strong drinks before your 
pupils. It is wrong to indulge at all, and worse to set example for 

others. .. , ,, , 

15. Never expect pupils to forget a wrong, if you don t do so, 

for both are human. 

16. Never pinch the ears of pupils, or slap them on the face. 



School- Room Helps. 



17. Never fail to prepare your daily work before entering your 
schoolroom 

18. Never count a day's work done till you have done something 
good for your pupils. 

19. Never refuse to do something for the deserving poor, nor 
to return a kindness to anyone. 

20. Never curse or swear before your pupils unless you want 
them to do likewise. 

21. Never let your temper get the best of you, and condemn 
the same thing in others. 

22. Never be impatient about small matters. 

23. Never have hobbies in school and ride them to death at 
the expense of everything else. 

24. Never allow your pupils to mistrust your honesty, for there- 
after your influence will be small. 

25. Never allow a talkative pupil to take the time of the class, 
unless he is saying something worth all hearing. 

26. Never leave your pupils in doubt as to whether you are on 
the right or wrong side of a moral question. 

27. Never leave your pupils to themselves long at a time unless 
you know or have strong reasons to believe they will use their 
time properly. 

28. Never allow yourself to lose confidence in all your pupils. 
Some may be honest. 

29. Never be a "sharp shooter," throwing shot right and left 
at pupils whom you may consider armed with a siihilar weapon 

30. Corporal punishment when needed is the best specific, but 
never administer it in drastic doses unless the case is a drastic one. 

31. Never be afraid to allow your sober judgment to decide 
whether a case needs drastic treatment. 

32. Never be too tired to see irregularities in your class and 
point them out at once. 

33. Never enter into altercation with pupils as to the right or 
wrong of a case. 

34. Never make many rules. It is a question whether it is 
right to make any rules at all. 

35. Never point to yourself as a great example, for if your life 
is worthy some pupils may try to imitate it. 

36. Never take much time of the school with extraneous mat- 
ters. 

37. Never allow pupils to discuss the gossip of the city with you. 

38. Never allow a class to take the time of another, unless ab- 
solutely necessary. 

39. Never allow chronic fighters and disturbers to remain in 
your school, for they demoralize your pupils. 



Fifty Nevers in the School Room. 89 

40. Never be content with a little poorly done. Have it well 
done, if at all. 

41. Never allow your pupils to ask you questions while you 
hear your classes recite. It leads to confusion. 

42. Never allow the appeals of the needy to pass you, without 
heeding them in some way. 

43. Children are splendid mind-readers. Never allow them to 
read your mind unconcerned in their interest. 

44. Never open your school without a word of prayer, nor 
without reading a few verses from the Bible. 

45. Never make long prayers before your school for some child 
may be playing before you are through 

46. Never think time is too precious to call to see a parent who 
does not understand you. 

47. Never think you cannot make mistakes, for you are human 
as well as the children. 

48. If you make a mistake, never be too proud to confess it to 
the class. 

49. Never wait too long to apologize for a wrong done, for now 
is the time. 

50. Never imagine that you are wise, or that you know it all, 
for* somebody else sees you in small glasses. 




CHAPTER VI. 



XI, THE DAILY PROGRAMME. 



Every teacher should have a programme to guide him or her in 
the disposition of studies in the school. To commence the work 
of the day without knowing where to begin, is a want of judgment 
on the part of the teacher, to say the least. 

To go into a schoolroom and find a teacher at a loss as to where 
to begin the work at any hour, is to find a teacher who has not 
learned how to organize a school and put into operation all the 
forces in their proper places and at their most appropriate times. 

The writer has seen teachers at the time of receiving visitors, 
in much perplexity as to the proper study to take up and where to 
begin to make the best impression on the visitors. 

The proper thing to do, is to have an outline of studies for the 
day and take up those studies in their proper places. The best 
impression to make on the visitor, is that you have a programme 
and are following the programme as it is outlined, and any devia- 
tion from this outline is done for a. special purpose. 

The programme should not only be made out in the teacher's 
mind, but it has many advantages for the teacher to post his pro- 
gramme in some prominent place in his schoolroom, where pupils 
can easily see the coming of recitations and their changes, etc. 

The programme, too, should vary with the grade of school 
taught. This is to say, that a programme for a Graded school 
would not suit the purpose of an ungraded or Rural school. 

There should be two main purposes in the preparation of a pro- 
gramme, as follows: (i) It should give the time of each recita- 
tion, the amount of time allotted to each period. (2) It should 
show the disposition of classes not reciting as well as those re- 
citing. 

We shall attempt, in this connection, to give a programme 
suited to the needs of an ungraded school. We shall do this with 
a view to meeting the needs of young teachers who may desire 
assistance on this point to meet their varying conditions. 

(90^ 



The Daily Programme. 



91 



PROGRAMME FOR GRADED SCHOOLS: 































a 
















<v 
















s 
























































fi 


m 






n 








o 


CI 




a 


Q^ 


^ 








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o 




— 3 






w 


CS 




ce 


< 


ce o 


a 




CD 
4^ 


Hj 


m 




t^-^ 
"S o 


8 


a 




a 


B 


W 


m 


§ 


= 

•So 


s 


h 


§ 


h 


m 


a 


m 


1— t 


o 


9 


5 












9:5-9:30 


25 


Music Music 


Music 


Music 






9:30-10 


30 


Arith. 5th. 1 Grammar 


History 


Litei ature 










Gr. ! 6th Gr. 


7th. Gr 


11th. Gr. 


8,9.10 




10-10:30 


30 


Arith. 6th: Gram. 5th 
Gr. • 5th Gr. 


Latin 11th 
Gr. 


Science 7th 
Gr. 


8.9, 10 





10:30 to 10:45 — Recess. 



10:45-10:15 
1115-12 



Alg. ICth 

Gr. 
Alg. 9fch Gr 



Rhetoric 
9th Gr. 

(Jrammar 
7th Gr. 



Latin 


8th 


Gr. 




Latin 


10th 


Gr. 





Science 


5, 6 


11 til Gr. 




Science 8th 


5,6 


Gr. 





7th Gr. 
11th Gr. 



12 to 1 — Noon Recess. 



1-1:30 


30 


Arith. 8th 


Rhetoric 


Latin 9th 


Science 6th 


7 Gr. 


5, 11 Gr. 






Gr. 


10th Gr. 


Gr. 


Gr. 






1 :30-2 


30 


Grammar 


Rhetoric 


History 6th 


Science 5th 


7Gr. 


10, 9 Gr. 






4th Gr. 


8th Gr. 


Gr. 


Gr. 






2-2 :30 


30 


Arith. 7th 


Reviews 


History 5th 


Science 9th 


4, 3Gr. 


.8, 10, 6 Gr. 






Gr. 


11th Gr.- 


5th Gr. 


Gr. 






2:30-3 


30 


Grammar 


Spell 6thGr 


History Sth 


SpeU. 7th 


4, 3Gr. 


11,9, 5 Gr. 






10th Gr. 




Gr. 


Gr. 





The above programme is suggested for a school where five 
teachers are employed to carry the work of the High School, and 
also the Grammar grades, a condition which is generally preva- 
lent in the South where Colored schools are allowed to add High 
school branches. In fact, this is about the conditions as they 
exist to-day in our own school. 

The following Programme may be suited to the conditions in 
the rural districts where one teacher must carry the work of three 
teachers. 



92 



School- Room Helps. 



PROGRAMME— Continued. 







>, 


1 


3 


3 


s 


g 


o 


a 


s 







c 

> 


E^ 


Oh 


PL, 


m 


^ 


fe 


< 


9-9:15 


15 
15 


Nmnbers 


Numbers 


Arith 

Arith 


Aritli 

Geog 


Arith. 


9:15-9:30 


Seat Work _ . 


Numbers 


Geog. 


9:30-10 


30 
30 


Writing 

Forms 


Seat Work __ 
Seat Work__ 


Lang 


Arith 


Arith. 


10:10-10:30 


Lang 


Gram 


Arith. 



10:30 to 10:45 — Recess. 



10:45-11:10 


25 
25 
25 


Copy Work__ 
Read 


Lang 


Lang 


Gram 

Gram 

Spell 


Gram. 


11:10-11:35 


Lang 

Lang 


Read 

Read 


Gram. 


11:35-12 


Seat Work _ _ 


Spell. 



12 to 1 — Noon Recess. 



1-1:30 
1:30-2 
2-2:30 
2 :30-3 
3-3:30 
3 :30-4 



30 
30 
30 
30 
30 
30 



Forms 

Forms 


Read 


Read 


Dismissed 


Read 




Writmg 









Seat Work 

CJeog 

Read 



Geog 

Geog 

Dismissed - 



jGram 

!Pen 

'Spell 

jGeog 

(Seat Work-. 



Gram. 
Pen. 
Spell. 
Geog. 
Seat Wk. 



CHAPTER VII. 



XII, THE OPENING EXERCISES. 



No school should open its daily sessions without formal exer- 
cises. Not for the mere form, but for the practice it gives the 
pupil in singing and in taking part in public exercises. Some 
teachers not being of a serious turn of mind, or in other words, not 
being identified with the church, do not see the utility of prepar- 
ing some form of opening for the school, but enter into the day's 
work with little or no opening exercises. 

It does not necessarily say that the teacher must be a member 
of the church or even a professed Christian, though every teacher 
should be identified with the church, if we had to be the judge. 
But it does say that the teacher must feel obligated to prepare 
some sort of exercise for the school in order that the pupils may be 
trained in all that it takes to complete their education and make 
them useful citizens. 

Few Negro teachers, if any, belong to the class of skeptics or 
even the Catholic- church. They, as a rule, are members of the 
church ; if not, they are believers in the doctrine as taught by the 
orthodox churches, and thus find it a pleasure to open their school 
with prayer, singing, short lectures on some topic affecting the 
management of the moral life of the pupils. In the way of start- 
ing off the day, there is nothing to take the place of the opening 
exercises. It has a powerful effect in the way of starting the ma- 
chinery to work. 

Singing is a great factor among the Colored people in helping 
out in time of trouble. It is a most encouraging sign to see the 
times so changed or the minds of men so enlightened that the 
Bible which was once forbidden in the schoolroom is now read 
daily in most public schools, as well as private schools. 

The reading of the Bible without comment is now a practice in 
Texas, and, we hope, all other States. The reading of the Bible 
before the day's work begins gives a divine sanction to the work of 
the day and starts the machinery off with God and the Holy Spirit 
leading. 

(93) 



94 School- Room Helps. 



If there have been any cases of misconduct on the previous day 
left over for adjudication at the opening of the day's session, the 
reading of the Holy Book, the chanting of the Lord's Prayer, will 
many times soften the hearts of the offenders and the teacher finds 
his case easily settled when the exercises are over. 

We would suggest the following as an appropriate exercise to be 
used in Primary or Grammar grades 

(i) — Singing engaged in by all. 

(2) — Reading the Bible five minutes, or concert recitations of 
some familiar chapter as Psalms 23d, or Matthew 5th. 

(3) — Singing by whole school. 

(4) — Comments by teacher or principal on special events or de- 
portment of school. 

(5) — Marching out of all classes to commence the work of day. 

9.25 closes this opening with 25 minutes employed to march in 
and complete the exercise. 

This form should vary to suit the conditions of the school. A 
Primary school should have fifteen or twenty minutes opening, 
while a High school or Grammar school could occupy twenty or 
twenty-five minutes with profit. The thing to do is for the 
teacher to plan such a program as will be suitable for the school. 

Summary — 

I — No school should open its sessions without formal exer- 
cises. 

2 — It does not say that the teacher has to be a member of the 
church. 

3 — Few teachers of the race are skeptics or infidels. 

4 — Singing, a great factor among the Colored people. 

5 — Reading of the Bible in the Public schools, a favorable sign. 

6 — The reading of the Bible has an effect on the offenders in 
the school. 

7 — A suggestive program. 



CHAPTER VIIL 



XIIL THE RHETORICAL AND FRIDAY 
AFTERNOON. 



In the education of children there must be a place in the pro- 
gramme for training in Writing and Speaking. Pupils are trained 
to write and speak in school, and the practice of writing and 
speaking at stated periods, is a part of the necessary curriculum 
of every well regulated school. 

There may be some objection to the method of designating a 
specific day, Friday afternoon for these exercises. Indeed, it is 
claimed by some of the present day school men that the Friday 
afternoon custom of presenting these exercises "smacks" of the 
old school, and is not up to date. 

We do not pretend, in this connection, to make any defense for 
a custom which has served the fathers so well in the past, but shall 
only attempt to give the facts of our own experiences on this sub- 
ject. Some teachers make the point that any day of the week 
may be used for this purpose, and that there is no reason for des- 
ignating Friday for rhetoricals any more than Monday or Thurs- 
day. 

In our experience, we have found good reasons for designating 
Friday as the day for recitals of specially prepared exercises. The 
following may suggest a reason : 

(i) — Friday is the last day of the week, and any interruption of 
the week's work on this day will not affect the routine as it would 
on other days when the work of the classes engages attention. 

(2) — The last day of the week has always been to us a suitable 
time for the introduction of debates, speaking — -anything to 
change from the regular program. 

(3) — The old way of encouraging parents to visit the school on 
Friday afternoon and preparing recitations and debates for their 
special benefit, is not without merit, for it furnishes an occasion 
for special preparation on the part of student and teacher. The 
pupil stimulated by the thought that mother or father will be 
present on a certain day to hear him, will be urged, many times, 
to greater efforts. 

(95) 



96 School' Room Helps. 



(4)- — In the daily program, it serves a great purpose to fix a 
period for everything to be taught in the curriculum. The time 
for special training in debate and recitals, Friday afternoon, is in 
keeping with rule, "time and place for everything." 

The following will furnish suggestions of the kind of exercises 
for the Friday Afternoon Program : 

(a) Teachers should not be guilty of allowing pupils to use their 
time in reciting light literature on these occasions, no more than 
they should allow pupils to read in school, light novels of the dime 
denomination. 

(b) Pupils should be assisted in the proper selection of litera- 
ture and the teacher should not be satisfied with anything less. 
What we mean, is that the mind of the pupil should be stored with 
the kind of literature that will serve him in the years of maturity. 
Therefore the standard pieces of literature should be made the 
subject of study by pupils of advanced grades, and if anything is 
selected in any grade in the schoolroom, it should be standard 
literature in order that whatever is learned by the pupil, may 
serve him to good purpose in years to come. The mind is like a 
tablet. Whatever is copied upon it in youth, remains to be seen — 
called up in after years. If it is light reading with which you 
have filled the mind of the pupil, there will be reproduced the 
fruits of such sowing; if it is the best literature which comes from 
the master minds of the country, then the pupil will be able to 
call up in years of maturity what he has made the subject of study 
in youth. 

(c) Beware, teachers, of the custom of allowing pupils to recite 
anything heard on the streets or around the home. 

{d) "Mary had a httle lamb. 

Its fleece was white as snow; 

Everywhere that Mary went 

The lamb was sure to go," 
may be s fine little speech for the little two-year old boy on 
mother's knee, but for the ten-year-old boy at school, it is a 
waste of time. 

"Twinkle, twinkle little star. 

How I wonder what you are. 

Up above the world so high 

Like a diamond in the sky," 
may be a good speech for mother's little five-year-old boy 
but for the twelve-year-old school boy, it is childish and beneath 
his years. 

The teacher should see that the boys practice declamation, from 
the best writers and speakers of the country, and the girls recite 
from such authors as will stimulate them and create in them a 



The Rhetorical and Friday Afternoon. 97 

love for the pure and ennobling. Let it be the aim of the teacher 
to have her pupils create love for Whittier, Longfellow, Lowell, 
Dunbar, Hawthorne, Lamb, Tennyson, Emerson, Byron, Shake- 
speare, Gray, Holland and a long list of such writers. 

These exercises may be divided into two classes to suit the age 
and advancement of the pupils. 

(a) The Grammar grades should be under the immediate direc- 
tion of the teacher, the pupils being arranged in divisions to suit 
the age of the individuals and the best judgment of the teacher. 

(6) The High school pupils should be allowed to form them- 
selves into a Literary Association with proper officers from among 
the students and the teacher acting as critic (the one to have the 
final say as to the merit or demerit of an exercise. 

Older pupils in the Rural school should be allowed to take their 
own exercises in hand and conduct them in their own way, with 
suggestions from the teacher.) 

The following will suggest the kind of Grammar grade exer- 
cises suitable for graded or ungraded schools : 

PROGRAM. 

I — Remarks Teacher (in charge ) 

2— Song School 

3 — Recitation, "Psalm of Life" — Longfellow Sarah Jones 

4 — Essay, "My Trip to the Country" Wilhe Moore 

5 — "Life's Mission," — Longfellow John Clay 

6— Song School 

7— Select Reading Mary Ransom 

8 — "Never Too Late" — J. H. Carey Frank Johnson 

9 — "Keep Hustling" — George Loarts Hettie Tate 

I o— Song School 

II — "It's Got to be" Clemmie Peters 

12 — Teacher's comment. 

Time — One Hour, or 6o Minutes. 
The High School or Advanced grades, as indicated above, should be en- 
couraged to form themselves into a Literary Society, with the following as a 
suggestive exercise : 

I — Remarks Master of Ceremony, James Thomas 

(a Senior) 

2 — Song . School 

3 — Declamation, "George Washington" Frank Frazier 

4 — "Brotherhood" — Edwin Markham T. L. Hye 

5 — Vocal Solo ._ Laura White 

6 — Debate, "Resolved — That the mind of the girl is more susceptible to 
training in schocl than the mind of the boy." Affirmative — Pleasant 
Collins and Fannie Wills. Negative — Lillian Clarke and Joseph Blake. 
(Each side should select one judge from among the students, then 
these two make a selection of one, — giving three judges in all.) 
Time — 20 minutes to each side. Total, 40 minutes. 

7 — News Summary Jasper Durham 

8 — Report of Critic (teacher) 
9 — Decision of Judges 

Time for the above program, one hour, thirty minutes, (i 1-2 hour.) 



CHAPTER IX. 

XIV. MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF 
THE RACE. 



Music has charms for the soul as nothing else has. Even the sav- 
age in his uncultured state is a lover of music, and in his native 
airs spends hours with his favorite instrument. In fact, the 
lower down in the scale of civilization a race is. the more it appears 
that that race finds time to engage itself in making music in its 
native airs. 

It is said that David, the great Psalmist, was one of the greatest 
musicians the world has ever known, and if his productions stand 
as evidence of his ability, the Psalms of David are the most widely 
read and the most popular of all the writings of the Bible. 

Every nation in the world that has reached any degree of cul- 
ture, every nation of any degree of intelligence or no degree of 
intelligence, has its class of musicians which do the playing and 
singing as leaders of the race in this art. The Negro race is no ex- 
ception to this rule. 

The race is noted especially for singing and music in its native 
form. Indeed, the Negro race in this country is the leader in 
native songs and it is said that it is the only race in this country 
that has developed a music distinctly its own. It is said by the 
critics that the Negro as a musician is not original — is only a sur- 
face-skimmer; but this criticism will not bear investigation. 

As above indicated, the Negro is the only original singer in this 
country — if the music produced by the fathers in antebellum 
times and now rapidly becoming the most popular airs in the 
country, is to be taken as evidence. 

There is no song, no music more original and more character- 
istic of the race than these songs and rhythms produced by the 
antebellum Negro on the Southern plantation, and now popular- 
ized and fast becoming the music of the day. 

In serious or religious worship, what music can soothe the soul 

(98) 



Musical Characteristics of the Race. 99 

and appeal to the emotions more rapturously than the Negro 
melodies which were produced in the cotton fields and in the 
swamps of the Southland while the slave plowed the fields or 
gathered his daily task of cotton, or hid away among the ever- 
greens of the forest? What music can charm the fancy of the 
individual disposed to trip the fantastic toe, and infuse emotions 
of worldly pleasure more than the Negro airs now set to music and 
played on the American stage? 

On account of the smoothness of the flow, the rapidity of the 
movement, the sweetness of the rhythms, this class of music, it is 
said, is growing in the popular favor of the music loving public, 
and will erelong perhaps take the place of the present day music. 

The charge that the Negro is not a producer of fine music, but 
is a "surface skimmer" and an imitator, can be successfully con- 
futed by investigation of the class of music the best musicians of 
the race have produced and are using wherever they make any 
pretence at rendition. True, the Negro as a race is emotional., 
sensational, and given to fanciful dreams of "happy-go-lucky" 
times, and many of the musicians are employed to furnish musical 
ditties for the purpose of pleasing the people; sometimes in a ho- 
tel to amuse the guests; sometimes in the barbershops to please 
the customers ; sometimes at the homes of the rich for the benefit 
■of the family ; sometimes on the streets for the amusement of 
those who will stop a minute on their journey about the cities; 
sometimes at night in midnight serenades they are arousing the 
sleeping populace with beautiful enchantments of heavenly vi- 
sions ; — but, notwithstanding there is an abundance of these light 
musicians about the country, and that many of them could be 
dispensed with at much profit to the race, yet this does not pre- 
clude the fact that there are many musicians in the race that are 
first-class producers and singers of real music. 

We could give many examples to prove what has been said on 
this subject, but suffice it for our purpose when we mention one 
representative, Mr. Coleridge Taylor, one of the finest composers 
of music that has sung in this country. 

Summary — 

I — Music charms the soul. 

'2 — David the Psalmist. 

3 — Every race has its musicians. 

4 — The race noted for singing. 

5 — What the critics have said about the race. 

-6 — The Negro the original singer. 

7 — The Negro in serious or religious worship as a singer. 



100 



School- Room Helps. 



8 — The kind of music that charms the heart. 

9 — It is growing in favor. 

lo — A charge that the Negro is a 'surface skimmer." 

1 1 — The Negro as a race is sensational, emotional, etc. 

12 — We could give instances, etc. 




CHAPTER X. 



XV. CLASSIFICATION, IMPEDIMENTS 
AND RACIAL COMPARISONS. 



In this chapter we hope to point out some of the many difficul- 
ties encountered by the Afro-American teacher as he attempts to 
classify his school and to transform chaos into order and ignorance 
into intelligence. 

In order that we work up a good case, it may be necessary to go 
hastily over the ground of organization of the school, so as to 
come logically to the point of classification. 

The organization of a Negro school does not differ in the es- 
sential from the organization of any school, but in detail there will 
arise many troubles which would not confront the teachers of 
other races. The trustees employ a teacher to take charge of the 
school in Stringtown community. The teacher is a graduate of 
Fisk University., one of the leading institutions in the South for 
Negro education. The teacher is ripe and ready to enter upon 
his work. He visits the community a few days before the open- 
ing of his school, and calls the parents together and makes an ap- 
peal to the people in the community to support the school and 
encourage education. 

His heart to heart talk with the parents makes a favorable im- 
pression upon them as to the support which they are to give in the 
matter of encouraging education and running the school which is 
soon to open. He talks to parents of their duty to their children, 
of their duty to the race ; he goes over and points out the condition 
of the school house as to the improvements needed to insure com- 
fort and health to their children. He points out the good derived 
from parental cooperation, and asks his audience to cooperate 
with him in all that it will take to build up a good school and main- 
tain it in that community. 

He meets many of his parents and becomes acquainted with 
them. When his talk is over, he makes such good impression on 
the people that they ask for a permanent organization to be known 

(101) 



102 School-Room Helps. 



as The Mothers' Club, with regular monthly meetings at the 
school house. 

With this meeting over, the day is set for the school to open, 
when he invites parents to come out and bring their children. The 
day comes and a few of them come with their children to see them 
enrolled and greet the teacher in his first day's work. 

All of these parents are laboring people and though they are 
interested in their children, their engagements in the way of mak- 
ing a livelihood will make it hard for them ever to go to the school 
after that first day, — and even then some who ventured to go 
went at a sacrifice ; for the women left in the tub the clothes which 
they had gathered to wash for their white neighbors or employers, 
while the men who went to the school house, left the mules, 
hitched up to the wagon and the cotton sack hanging on the 
gate preparatory for going to the cotton fields as soon as they 
could go to the school and return. 

The Teacher's First Day at the School. 

With the opening exercise over, in which parents and visitors to 
the school participated, the teacher turns his attention to the 
classification of his school. Upon the examination of the books 
in the hands of the pupils the teacher finds out that most of them 
are antiquated and out of use. and in order that his school be com- 
menced in line with up-to-date systems of education, there must 
be new books purchased by the children. He therefore gives out 
orders that children should be supplied with new books. 

The next important task in the organization is the classification, 
to which task the teacher now turns his attention. In order to 
facilitate the work the teacher calls for all the pupils who have 
come to school for the first time and cannot read. He finds quite a 
class of them, some even lo or 12 years old. He then calls for the 
first year's pupils who can read and have made a beginning. He 
finds that there is a large number who have just commenced to 
read, and belong to the first year class. He calls for second year 
pupils and third year pupils, and finds that many pupils that had 
been in school two or three years could not read and write any bet- 
ter than first year pupils. He has trouble in the beginning to 
classify them on account of the objections raised by pupils to 
being put back where they belong. He calls for fourth and 
fifth year pupils and finds that pupils who claim that they have 
been in school four and five years can hardly do third year's 
work, and that the same trouble which commenced in the lower 
classification now increases as he advances. Pupils make argu- 
ments that the last teacher classified them thus, and that 
mother and father said put them there, and thus they should be 
there. 



Classification, Impediments and Racial Comparisons. 103 

The teacher disregards the objections raised by pupils to their 
classification and proceeds to cut out and put in just where he 
knows the pupils should be placed. 

Thus the teacher's first day at school is spent in trying to 
classify and cull and prune so as not to involve his predecessor in 
more than is in keeping with the dignity of professional courtesy. 

The troubles of this Afro-American teacher have not ceased on 
his first day at school. No, they have just commenced, which 
fact will show itself tc-morrc\v when he commences his second day's 
work. He will then receive many notes from the parents of pu- 
pils making arguments and objections as to putting their children 
in too low classes because the teacher preceding classified them 
as fourth or fifth year pupils, while he has put them back. The 
teacher, of course, is not moved by this kind of trouble, for if he 
has the proper kind of balance and knows how to perfect the 
classification to which he has engaged himself, he never lets up 
until he has performed a task which seems so hard. The trouble 
coming from pupils and parents will not amount to much with a 
teacher that knows his work and his parents. Indeed, these ob- 
jections soon cease when it is seen by pupil and parent that the 
teacher knows the classification better than they. 

This is only one of the many cases which may arise in a Negro 
school. As we said in the beginning of this chapter, this is a labor- 
ing people and their children must also assist in making a liveli- 
hood. The teacher finds before he has gone very far, that the 
attendance is bad; children come to school any time after the 
opening, some at 9.15, some at 9.30, some at 10, and some at 10.30. 
Any time before noon. Too, they come to-day and out to-mor- 
row, making an attendance of two or three days in the week. 

The teacher can improve all these things if he is made up of 
such qualifications as we have hinted at from time to time in this 
book. The purpose here is to point out the trouble and hint at 
some remedy, for there is no specific for these ills. There is more 
in the tactfulness of the teacher than in any specific which we 
might suggest. The suggestion which we offer here, is that the 
teacher should set himself to work to improve these conditions by 
a determined attack from two directions. Upon the pupils whom 
he has under instruction, and upon the parents who have charge 
of the pupils at home. These two strongholds attacked in the 
proper way, will improve such conditions and pupils, and parents 
will assist in the improvement. 

Some Comparisons. 

In this connection we wish to make a few racial comparisons 
to show where the trouble lies in the Negro education. The 



104 School- Room Helps. 



trouble mentioned in the above may be encountered in some de- 
gree, in a white school. Indeed, no school is clear of these hin- 
drances. But we wish to make comparison in order that in the 
light of comparison we see ourselves. On account of conditions 
indicated above in Negro schools, there is much greater impedi- 
ment in the way of the progress of the Negro teacher than there 
is in the white schools in the same city or in the same district. 
In the white schools the pupils come from homes in which the 
parents are men and women of leisure; while in Negro schools the 
children come from the homes of laboring people whose only 
chance for education for their children is in the time taken from 
the period of making a living for the family. 

In the white schools the teacher is supported by a constituency 
whose ancestry is backed up by the wealth and accumulations of 
ages ; while in the schools of the latter race the teacher has an an- 
cestry who are backed up by 250 years of unrequited labor in this 
country. 

In the schools of the former the teacher is supported by parents 
who have had the training of the schools for many generations; 
while in the schools of the latter the teacher has the support of a 
parentage who have had no schooling and who know no culture. 
In the schools of the former the pupils have incentives from the 
history of the world's greatest productions; while in the schools of 
the latter the pupils must be encouraged to undertake great 
achievements by indulging in speculative admonitions or in the 
hope of "better times coming." 

Thus the Negro teacher has a problem to solve in the education 
of his race that is wholly his own. 

Summary — 

I — Hope to point out some of the troubles in Afro- American 
schools. 

2 — Necessary to go hastily over the ground of organization. 

3 — Trustees employ a teacher from Fisk University. 

4 — Before opening school he visits his community and makes 
heart to heart talks. 

5 — When talk is over, makes good impression. 

6 — Day is set for opening school and parents invited out. 

7 — After first day it will be hard for parent to visit school. 

8 — The teacher's first day at school. 

9 — Disregard objections raised by pupils. 

10 — The second day's troubles. 

1 1 — The teacher finds trouble in the attendance. 

12 — The purpose to point out trouble. 



Classification, Impediments and Racial Comparisons. 105 



1,3 — The teacher should make attacks from two standpoints. 

14 — Some comparisons. 

15 — Pupils in white schools have incentives from the world's 
best productions — while those in Negro schools must be satis- 
fied with the imasfination. 



CHAPTER XL 



XVL LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR. 



In the discussion of Language Lessons in this chapter, we shall 
hope to point out the difficulty which the Afro-American teacher 
encounters in the schoolroom with the children of his race. 

The language of a people is their form of speech or communica- 
tion. Whatever their form of speech, that is called their lan- 
guage. One generation transmits the language to the other. 

The child speaks or uses the forms of its parents. If the par- 
ents use a jargon or broken language, the child getting its forms 
from its parents, is armed with the same speech and thus the lan- 
guage is perpetuated from one generation to the other. 

The ISl egro race is said to have and use the language of the form- 
er masters in this country. When the first individuals of the race 
were brought to this country, they had no language save the cor- 
rupted form of speech used by the natives of Africa. 

This language, if such it can be called, was the only means of 
ccmrr-unication used by the Africans when individuals of them were 
first brought to this ceuntry. The masters of these first slaves 
had to teach them the language which the masters themselves 
used before the slave could communicate with them. 

The learning of the language of the masters was a necessity on 
the part of the slave, since it was the only means of making known 
his wants. The teaching, therefore, was easy. We mean the 
learning of forms of speech to enable them to make their wants 
known, was easy, though they learned the language in broken or 
incorrect forms. 

It takes an educated people to learn correct forms of a language, 
and since the African was not educated when he was brought to 
this country, the language which he learned was not correct Eng- 
lish. 

This incorrect or barbarous form of English speech is not char- 
acteristic of the Negro, since all races in coming in possession of a 
new language, have found trouble in maintaining its pure forms. 
As we indicated, the proportion of barbarity in the language of 
the new comers depends upon the education of the people. 

(106) 



Language a%d Grammar. 107 

The Negro has thus fallen heir to the English language and for 
over 250 years struggled, without education, to acquire sufficient 
forms to make his wants known. With the coming of his emanci- 
pation, came also his education and teachers of Afro-American 
schools have waged an incessant warfare with the broken forms 
of the language in the speech of the members of the race. 

At first there was much trouble to undo these incorrect forms of 
speech in the language of the children that had an ancestry whose 
most ancient lineage had no correct form of speech. The work 
has gone steadily on, however, and much progress has been at- 
tained in the matter of undoing the native jargon and giving 
them Mother English, pure and simple. 

While much progress is made in the use of the language by the 
individuals of the race and in the schools by the teachers, there is 
still a greater hindrance to encounter by the teachers of Afro- 
American schools than the teachers of other races. 

The reason for this trouble may be given as follows : 

(i) Because the majority of the children come from the homes 
of uneducated parents. The child of an illiterate parent, whose 
associations and environments are of similar nature, comes to the 
school barren of all but the crudest forms of English, and the lan- 
guage which the parent has taught him, and must be unlearned 
before the correct forms can be given. 

The teachers, therefore, of the Negro child have a task which 
does not confront the teachers of the white race in the same de- 
gree. 

(2) Because the child coming from an illiterate parentage, is 
itself ignorant of the simplest forms of speech which the teacher 
must first attempt to give, thus entailing on the teacher the ne- 
cessity of teaching the fundamental forms of expression which 
should be the child's heritage at the beginning of its school life. 

(3) The teacher has no assistance in this work: there being no 
one at home to train the child in the proper forms of expression, 
therefore the schoolmaster is alone, and must keep up an incessant 
fight with barbarisms taught at home and caught up by associa- 
tion. 

In view of the difficulties that beset the Afro- American teacher, 
let us discuss some ways which may aid in relieving the situation, 
somewhat, in the coming years of our advancing civilization. 

(a) The child's home environment is improving as the race ad- 
vances and as the parent becomes more and more the product of 
the new civilization. This is to say, that as fast as the schools 
can turn out men and women of education and culture, who will 
become the parents of a new generation, the child in the home will 



108 School-Room Helps. 



become the new product, and the language and culture of the 
parent will be the inheritance of the child 

The schools are being occupied rapidly by this new product on 
account of the progress of the race, which fact can be seen in the 
change of the form of expression and the use of better English by 
the children as they come from homes of educated parents, or 
parents whose early training brought them in contact with people 
of education. 

As the parents become enlightened they should be careful in 
the training at home, of the children in the simple forms of 
speech in order that our children may learn early the use of the 
mother tongue. 

Home training in the language is similar to home training in 
matters of conduct and practical living. That the child is what 
its home environment is, has been emphasized from the beginning 
of this subject. 

So often our mothers are accustomed to using what they call 
"baby" language in talking to their children, and this baby jar- 
gon is kept up till the child is far advanced in years. The mother 
says, "Tum to mudder, my leetle darling." She uses a form of 
speech which the child finally learns, and it soon says, "Mudder, 
tum on." The mother says, "Bye you, baby, doe to seep," and 
soon the child is saying, "Mudder, may I doe to seep?" The 
mother says, "Papa, bing the baby tum tandy," and soon the 
child has learned the expression, and it says, "Papa, bing baby 
tum tandy." 

And so the mother unconsciously teaches her child a form of 
speech which it learns readily as its first inheritance, and which 
in after years it must unlearn. 

Much time could be saved in the formation of speech, by giv- 
ing to the child the correct expression at the start. The first 
impressions are most lasting, is a truism which has gone down the 
line of the ages, and as time goes on, the saying grows more perti- 
nent. 

Let us aim at correct expressions, even in our baby language, 
since the baby's mind is a blank which is soon to be impressed 
with whatever it hears. 

(6) The social environment is very closely connected with the 
home environment, and is second to it in affecting the child's 
language. 

There is no rule by which we can make every baby use proper 
English. Our children, therefore, must come in contact and as- 
sociate with people who are not careful as to their speech, and who 
have children whom they have never taught to use good language. 

This social mingling with people, is one of the ways of propa- 



Language and Grammar. 109 

gating the forms of speech in our children and among ourselves. 
We should, therefore, guard as far as possible, our associations, 
and especially the association of our children. 

It is impossible, however, among a class of people where igno- 
rance stands in such high relation with intelligence, to set up a 
standard by which the children of any part of them should not 
mingle with the illiterate. The only standard which we might 
set up has already been mentioned — the standard of careful 
training at home and the selection of associations. 

(c) The school training of our children falls upon the teacher 
mainly, and is his alone to accomplish. Very little of the work 
can be done at home, for the people at home are not themselves 
examples of scholarly training, and of course cannot impart it to 
the children. 

The teacher, therefore, is to be the model by which the children 
are to pattern at school and at home. We would offer a few sug- 
gestions in the teaching of the language to our children at home 
and at school : 

(i) In illiterate homes there is little or no chance for the young 
to be started off properly in their mother tongue, for mother does 
not know her own language. In view of this fact, therefore, the 
work of language formation must necessarily be referred to the 
schoolroom till the evolution which has been started in the educa- 
tion of the home shall be sufficiently advanced to enable the moth- 
ers of the new generation as they come into the light of refinement, 
to take up their task of home training. 

In the meantime, let the homes which have in them the old 
mothers "who have borne the burden in the heat of the day," 
delegate the language training to the "new crop" of inmates who 
are coming home yearly from the schools and colleges, having 
been put through these institutions by the mothers of antebellum 
days. 

This new recruit which is being turned out every year, should 
take the place in the home of the mother as teachers of the pure 
English as it has been given in the schools of the land. Let the 
homes of the new mothers who compose the recently educated 
recruits do their part in training their young as they are born into 
the world, and it will not be long before a solid foundation will be 
laid, and the mother tongue given its proper place in Afro- Ameri- 
can homes. 

(2) In the school room of Afro- Americans there should be exer- 
cised much more vigilance, than there usually is. teaching the 
language in every lesson of the day. 

The language lessons proper as taught from books in the hands 
of the children, should form a very small part of the work of the 



110 School- Room Helps. 



teacher on this subject. In arithmetic the language of the pupil 
should be as much the subject of correction as the numbers them- 
selves. 

I The pupils should be taught to say two and two are four; two 
from four leaves two ; two times two are four, etc., in their daily 
recitations, and thus fix the forms of expression in every step of 
the way. 

(3) The following order of teaching the language is suggested 
in the schoolroom : 
(a) Writing Exercises. 

The first step in teaching the language in the school should be 
in written exercises on the blackboard, or on slates or tablets pre- 
pared for this purpose. All the words used by the teacher as 
spelling lessons, should be copied by the pupils, not only for the 
purpose of teaching reading, but to give skill in writing. 
(6) Coyping of short sentences. 

This step is to familiarize pupils with the written form of the 
language. The teacher should write short sentences on the board 
and have pupils copy them. 
(c) Pupils should write from dictation by the teacher. 

In these exercises pupils are to be taught to use capitals to be- 
gin and periods for closing sentences. Verses, maxims, and short 
pieces of poetry can be used to advantage at this stage of the pu- 
pil's language lessons. 
{d) Writing sentences about objects. ♦ 

Objects observed by the pupil and written sentences made of 
the pupil's observations is a very profitable lesson in the teaching 
of language. 
(e) Writing of actions. 

The teacher performs before the class some series of actions, 
and then has the children to write about what they saw. Some 
pupil may be asked to perform some actions before the class, while 
the others write on slates or paper what they see. 
(/) Writing stories which pupils have learned. 

The teacher may tell the pupils a story and then have them re- 
produce in writing the story from memory. This is a profitable 
exercise in formation, and will afford the teacher opportunity to 
make corrections in the expressions as made by the pupils. 
(g) Writing the substance of reading lessons. 

The teacher should teach the lesson orally, and then have the 
pupils write a grouping of the prominent facts. Short lessons, 
one or two paragraphs at the time, will be sufficient for an exer- 
cise of this kind. 
(h) Writing stories from pictures. 

This is splendid exercise in drawing out and developing the 



Language and Grammar. Ill 

minds of the pupils in language work. Teachers should put on 
the walls of their room pictures of their selection and require the 
pupils to look at them and write a story of their own making. 
This exercise forms a splendid opportunity for developing the 
imaginative powers of the pupils. 
{{) Writing stories read by the teacher. 

This exercise is for more advanced pupils, who have learned by 
practice the use of simple words and sentences. The teacher 
should read the story in a very interesting manner and require the 
pupils to reproduce it in their own words. 
(/) Writing stories by answering questions. 

The teacher should write a series of questions logically arranged 
on the blackboard, and require the pupils to answer them. The 
answers to these questions will form a connected story. Before 
assigning such a lesson, the teacher should discuss with the pupils 
the facts which form the basis of the questions. This will make 
clear in the minds of the pupils the facts to be written about. 

Technical Grammar. 

Grammar proper should not be taken up by the pupils till the 
fourth or fifth year has been reached in language formation. 
There is some difference of opinion among teachers as to the time 
of the introduction of Grammar into the classes. But the pre- 
dominance of opinion decides that fifth or sixth year pupils are 
better prepared for the use of the textbook or technical Grammar. 

Under the old regime — fifty years ago when language lessons 
were not taught in the schoolroom, the old teacher put a book into 
the hands of the pupils as soon as they reached the subject of 
Grammar. 

There has been a revolution in the schoolroom in the last quar- 
ter of a century, and language lessons have been made the basis 
of study before the pupil is introduced to the study of Grammar. 
In other words, the language — -simple expressions — is made the 
subject of preliminary study before the technic is introduced. 

When Grammar is reached and the pupil is prepared to under- 
stand the simple constructions, then the parts of speech which 
make up the language should be taught. 

The following suggestive outline of study of Grammar may be 
followed with profit : 

(i) Language lessons as above indicated, should be taught with 
increasing developments as pupils advance. 

(2) Simple sentences with principal parts learned and applied. 
Example: Subject — John is sick. Pred. — -Sarah plays. 

(3) The Parts of Speech should be learned and practical appli- 
cation made of their use. Ex.: Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives 



112 School-Room Helps. 



Verbs, Adverbs, Conjunctions, Interjections, Prepositions, Parti- 
ciples. 

(4) A study of the Parts of Speech and their modifications and 
variations. 

(5) The sentence, its construction and classification. 

(6) Analysis — and technical constructions. 

(7) Parsing and Diagraming. 

Some Observations on Gf ammar . 

(i) Language lessons should begin at home in the cradle. 

(2) Association begets assimilation, therefore parents should 
guard with much care the child's companions. 

(3) The teacher should be the example for pupils in the use of 
language as far as possible. 

(4) The textbook should not be put into the hands of pupils 
till about the fifth or sixth year. Before this the teacher should 
furnish the material for the pupils till they have arrived at the 
point where they can understand what they read. 

(5) Much writing and much drilling through all the years of 
child training in connection with wholesome environment will 
make good English speakers. 

Summary — 

I — The language of a people. 

2 — The Negro uses his master's language. 

3 — It takes educated people to learn correct forms. 

4 — Has fallen heir to the English language. 

5 — With the coming of freedom, has come education. 

6 — Much trouble to undo incorrect forms. 

7 — The three reasons for these troubles. 

8 — (a) Improvement in home environment, (b) The social 
environment closely associated with the home, (c) The school 
training closely allied to the home. 

9 — Some suggestions offered : In an illiterate home there is no 
change. 

10 — In Afro- American schools much vigilance manifested. 

II — The following order of teaching suggested : (a) Writing 
exercises. (6) Copying of short sentences, (c) Pupils write from 
dictation, (d) Writing sentences about objects, (e) Writing of 
actions. (/) Writing stories which pupils have learned, (g) 
Writing substance of reading lessons, (h) Writing stories from 
pictures, (i) Writing stories read by teacher. (?) Writing sto- 
ries by answering questions. 

12- — Technical Grammar. 

13 — An outline^i. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 



CHAPTER XIL 



XVIL READING--HOW TO TEACH 
BEGINNERS. 



Reading in the Public school is one of the first studies in its im- 
portant bearing upon the relation of the student with everything 
else in the course of study. 

The first work done in school by the pupil is to learn how to 
read, and the teachers of the ages, past and present, have been 
devising methods of how to teach Reading, until the number of 
methods has multiplied many times. 

That Reading is the basis of all other studies is seen, in the fact 
that there is no literary attainment without it. Without read- 
ing, the teacher cannot hope to move in any direction, and thus 
sets herself to work the first day to clear the way for every other 
study that the course may contain. 

Mr. McKeever says, "The ultimate end of teaching this sub- 
ject is, roughly speaking, to enable the student rightly to appre- 
ciate and to interpret good literature, such as will help to make 
him a better and a happier member of the family circle in which 
he lives, and a stronger and more useful member of society." 

As was intimated at the beginning the methods of teaching 
Reading have multiplied as fast as the minds of men have ex- 
panded, and what once was the one only method of teaching 
Reading has become the many methods of to-day. 
The question now is, "Which method?" 

With the old teacher there was only one method of teaching 
Reading — the A-B-C method. 

Indeed, the writer himself was taught to read by this method, 
and though this method is obsolete now, the results of the only 
old way were good, and children were taught as rapidly as the 
method would allow in those days. 

Let us discuss in short, some of the various methods of teaching 
reading for the purpose of benefiting the young pedagogue who 
may chance to read these pages. 

(113) 



114 School- Room Helps. 

(i) The A-B-C method is the old way of teaching Reading, 
which has long since served its day and has added its hundreds of 
thousands to the number of individuals who have been taught to 
read in the schools of this country. This method is now obsolete, 
and others have taken its place. 

(2) The Word method has been substituted for the A-B-C 
method since the advocates of the former assumes, not without 
reason, that the child-mind grasps things more easily in wholes 
than in parts ; that the eye of the child recognizes the word more 
readily if he is not confused by attention to the elements, i. e., the 
letters of which it is composed. 

(3) The Word method seems to be the most widely used of all 
the methods, and has the preponderance of indorsement from the 
school men. 

(3) The Object method is the first method to be used by the 
teacher when introducing the subject of Reading. In fact, it is 
the beginning, and hardly can be called a method, since it soon 
fades into the Word method. 

The teacher presents the object to the pupil and draws out from 
the pupil by questions whatever it knows about the object. The 
Word method begins at this point. 

(4) The Sentence method assumes that children learn to read 
by taking in groups of words at a glance rather than single words. 

Someone calls this the Thought method. 

This method assumes that the mind can take in the thought, 
/ see a cat, rather than first learning the words, /, see, a, cat. 

(5) The Phonic method is the use of the sounds which make up 
the word in teaching the word. 

Many teachers claim success in teaching reading by the use of 
the Phonic method, but while some hold to this method, many 
have united in advocating the teaching of the sounds with other 
methods. 

(6) The Synthetic method takes its name from the fact that it 
gives great stress to the teaching of words by the synthesis of their 
phonic elements. 

It makes free use of diacritical marks to denote the pronuncia- 
tion of words, and rules are given for the sounds of vowels, for 
silent letters, etc. 

(7) The Syllabic method. The ability to recognize syllabic 
combinations of letters, is the real secret of the A-B-C method 
in giving facility to pupils in naming new words at sight. In the 
old time A-B-C method, after the letters were learned, the pupils 
passed to combinations of letters into syllables; as, ba, be, bi, bo, 
bu, by, ca, ce, ci, co, cu, cy, etc. 

The naming of methods might be continued, since we have not 



Reading — How to Teach Beginners. 115 

exhausted the Hst, however, we have named a sufficient number to 
assist the reader who may be looking for methods of teaching. 

By way of passing, we wish to note that it is now claimed by 
many teachers that the best results in teaching beginners, come 
from a combination of the methods, for instance, Object, Word, 
Sentence and Phonic. Each teacher should decide for himself 
after experiment, which method gives the best results. 

Whatever method is employed to teach the pupil, the teacher 
should begin with the purpose in view to go slowly and surely 
every step of the way. 

Mr. B. A. Hinsdale in his work on Reading, says, "The teacher 
should be guided by the following canons : (a) The pupil must at 
once attack the symbolism of the printed page. This consists of 
arbitrary characters combined in a great number and variety of 
ways. The first step towards reading, is to learn to recognize 
these characters, both singly and in combination. This is in 
great part, a mechanical mental operation in which success de- 
pends mainly upon quickness of mind and practice. It is an art 
in itself. 

(b) The pupil will at the same time attack the vocal values of 
these characters, also singly and in combination. 

(c) On the day that he enters the school, the pupil should also 
attack the significance of the literary symboleo." 

In other words, Mr. Hinsdale sums up the above thus: — 
"Reading involves (i) recognition of the printed symbols, (2) 
ability to express their sound equivalents, (3) understanding of 
the subject-matter." 

It is apparent that the pupil must know well the characters 
which make up words before he can express the word, and that he 
must be able to express the word before he can understand the 
word. These fundamental steps should be taken by the teacher 
with much care. 

The author hopes, in this connection, to give his own ideas, 
found after years of school work on the subject of Reading. As 
we indicated in the beginning of this chapter, Reading is the most 
important of the many school branches. Important because it 
is the basis of all knowledge. 

Teachers, as a rule, do not put sufficient time on this subject 
not only in the primary grades, but in the advanced grades. The 
result is, the pupils in the primary grades are invariably poor 
readers and consequently poor readers in the advanced grades. 

Another reason our schools have such poor readers in the pri- 
mary grades, is this: The teachers of these pupils are themselves 
poor readers in many cases, and of course, the teaching is poor. 
We mean here, as refers to the teachers, poor readers in the sense 



116 School- Room Helps. 



of not being able to teach reading to their pupils so thoroughly as 
to make good readers of some of them. 

Our pupils in the primary grades read as they are allowed to 
read in the classes, in a sing-song, jerky, drony manner, just as 
they are allowed to talk. 

It is the teacher's mission in the schoolroom to teach reading 
as the child has to talk, for reading is only talking. 

The writer has gone into a teacher's room and found her en- 
gaged with her reading class, and the following is the procedure: 

"Now, Mary, you may read the first paragraph." Mary gives 
the page, number and subject of the lesson, etc. She then reads 
one word at a time in a long, drony tone, but makes out to get 
through the paragraph with the teacher's help, without stopping 
to spell the words, though she made many starts and jerks at the 
long words. Some of the words were pronounced by the teacher, 
as Mary hesitated upon her approach to them. It took the pupil 
about five minutes to read a short paragraph of four or five sen- 
tences with the teacher's help. When she had finished, the 
teacher made no comment on the reading, but apparently satisfied 
that she had performed her duty by pushing the pupil over the 
long words, said to the next pupil, "James, read the next para- 
graph." James reads his paragraph in a similar manner, assisted 
by the teacher to pass over the hard words. 

This same procedure is kept up during a whole recitation period 
with no teaching by the teacher save the help over hard words. 
The whole purpose of the teacher seems to be getting along and 
getting around to all the pupils. 

But should this be the purpose in teaching reading? The 
teacher has a large class, but running over the reading lesson in 
order to have all read, does not benefit the individuals in the class. 
It may enable the teacher to get around to each individual of the 
class and it may enable her to go over a certain amount of work in 
a given time, but is this teaching reading? 

Is it not quality rather than quantity at which we aim? What 
about the pace of the pupil? The tone? The manner? The 
pitch? Modulation? It is said by some teachers that pupils 
should become their own models; that the teacher should not 
make herself the model for the class by reading for them. 

Much depends upon the fact as to whether the teacher is herself 
a good reader. Whether she is a good reader or not, she must read 
or pronounce for the primary pupils. In primary reading, there- 
fore the teacher must be the model. Calling on pupils to read 
repeatedly without reading for them sometimes, falls short of the 
desired end. The teacher, therefore, even in advanced grades,. 



Reading — How to Teach Beginners. 117 

having in her mind how she wants the pupils to read, often gives 
the pupils the model by reading herself. 

Reading as taught in the advanced classes, has also some of the 
sam.e objections offered to the teaching in the primary grades. 

The pupils of the public school should be good readers after 
eleven and twelve years of training as obtained in the High school 
of a well organized public school. When they have completed 
the course and graduated, it ought to go without saying that the 
majority of them are good readers. That the contrary is the rule 
with those who finish the course in Afro-American schools, is a 
fact which the most skeptical can have demonstrated by an ex- 
amination of the pupils as they come out from the schools annually. 

Now, some of the fault may be attributed to conditions in our 
schools. It takes time to teach reading, and it takes time for 
pupils to learn how to read. As our schools are now constituted, 
teachers do not have the time to give to a recitation. 

In an average Negro public school, one teacher has fifty and 
sometimes eighty pupils crowded in one room, with four or six 
grades to hear in one day. The time given to reading is 25 or 30 
minutes, and in many instances less time is given to a class of 
twenty pupils. 

The period is short and the teaching is short. The pupils, 
therefore, get short instruction. The result of this crowded, hur- 
ried condition of the class room is seen and felt in the final round- 
up of the student's education, when he completes the course. 

A second reason may be attributed to a lack of tact and teach- 
ing adaptability on the part of many of our teachers who have 
charge of the reading classes. As we have said, it takes much 
drill and training on the part of the teacher to produce good read- 
ers, and if the teacher herself is not very tactful and skilful, the 
pupil will suffer in her hands. 

In the conclusion of this subject, let us point out some salient 
points which we consider the life of the reading class : 

(i) The reading class must be in the hands of a wide-awake 
teacher who knows how to read, and who is tactful, artful and 
vigilant. 

(2) Conditions as they now exist, in the Negro schools in the 
country, should improve in order that the time element may not 
enter as a factor to prevent the success of the teacher who is capa- 
ble of producing good results in her reading classes. 

(3) Conditions being ripe, the teacher should employ the best 
methods, continuous drills and much reviews, and teach more 
thoroughly than has ever been done heretofore. 

(4) In the teaching of beginners, the Word method combined 
with the Sentence and Phonic methods, may be employed. 



118 School- Room Helps. 



(5) For the preparation of pupils for becoming good readers, 
Mr. White's requisites for teaching the words of a lesson are here 
recommended; "(a) The writing of all new words in the lesson 
as a part of its preparation, (b) The reading of the copied words 
from slate or paper in the class, (c) The oral spelling of the words 
in the lesson, by sound and by letter, (d) Teaching of the mean- 
ing of the new words by objects, by illustrations, by use in phrases 
and sentences, {e) The use of the words thus taught in original 
sentences, both oral and written." 

(6) Teachers should put much time on teaching the thought in 
reading. As a rule, our children form the habit of reading with 
their mouths and not with their minds. A lesson is not read till 
the thought of the author is brought out. Let that be the prime 
object in each lesson. 

(7) Pupils should master one series of books and then a supple- 
mentary series be used in order to give freshness to the reading 
and to create a thirst for varied reading. 

(8) Teachers should keep in mind from the beginning, the idea 
of developing in the minds of the pupils a love for good literature, 
which is one of the prime objects of teaching in the advanced 
grades. 

(9) The pupils should be required to study the reading lesson 
as thoroughly as any other lesson in the course. 

(10) The teacher should keep in view the fact that the pupil 
once in possession of the attributes of a good reader, is prepared 
to educate himself in all that pertains to literature ; that the edu- 
cation of the pupil therefore, depends upon his knowledge of and 
love for reading. 

Summary — 

I — Reading in the public schools is one of the most important 
studies. 

2 — Without reading a teacher cannot hope to move in any di- 
rection. 

3 — What McKeever says. 

4 — The methods have multiplied. 

5— With the old teacher there was only one method. 

6 — Discussion of the various methods of reading, the A-B-C, 
the Word, the Object, Sentence, Phonic, Synthetic, Syllabic. 

7 — The Object, Word, vSentence methods combined. 

8 — What Mr. B. A. Hinsdale says in his work on reading. 

9— The characters must be taught first. 

10^ — The writer's own views on the subject. 

1 1 — Teachers, as a rule, don't put sufficient time on this sub- 
ject. 



Reading — Hoiv to Teach Beginners. 119' 

12 — Reading the basis of all knowledge. 

13 — References to teachers. 

14 — Pupils of primary grades read in a sing-song manner, etc. 

15 — The writer's experiences in visiting reading classes. 

16 — The purpose of some teachers seems to be to get along get 
around whole class; and cover the work. 

17 — Quality, not quantity. 

1 8 — Some say that pupils should become their own model. 

19 — Reading as taught in the advanced grades has same ob- 
jection as that named in teaching primary grades. 

20 — Pupils should be good readers after eleven years of study 
and training. 

21 — That the contrary is true, may be manifested by examina- 
tion, etc. 

22 — It takes time to make good readers. 

23 — Negro schools have one teacher for 50 or perhaps 80 pupils. 

24 — Results of this crowded condition. 

25 — A second reason given. 

26 — In concluding this subject, let us discuss some points as 
follows : 

(a) The reading class should be in the hands of a wide-awake 

teacher. 
(6) Conditions should improve. 

(c) The time element considered. 

(d) Best methods should be employed. 

{e) Combination of Word, Sentence, and Phonic methods. 
(/) White's five requisites are recommended for preparation 
of the pupil. 
27 — More time should be given to teaching the thought. 
28 — Thorough mastery of one series at a times. 
29 — Reading lessons should be studied. 

30 — Teacher should keep in view the fact that a pupil can edu- 
cate himself when once in possession of love for reading. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



XVIII, NUMBERS. 



Numbers — arithmetic is the study in school, upon which the 
promotion of pupils is reckoned, and it is the most difficult branch 
of study in the course. 

That Afro-American pupils have serious trouble with this 
branch of their education, cannot be denied when you come face 
to face with the facts as they really exist in the schools every- 
where. 

For a long time after the Negro was emancipated, it was argued 
that he could not learn mathematics only in the rudimentary 
form. Many of his former owners took the position that the sci- 
ence of numbers could be learned only by trained minds, and, 
since the Negro's mind was not trained by reason of his long years 
of servitude, that his mastery of this subject was impossible. On 
account of the prevalence of this opinion, the progress of the Ne- 
gro students were curiously watched for a long time. It was soon 
seen that the untutored mind of the Negro when subjected to 
proper training, could master the science of numbers as well as 
other things, and that with favorable conditions, his progress was 
rapid. 

Notwithstanding, it has been proved that Negro pupils make 
advancement in numbers, we are prepared to assert that this sub- 
ject gives him much concern. This may be said with equal truth 
of other races, since Arithmetic requires more thought than other 
studies. 

But let that be as it may, it must be admitted by those who 
teach in our schools, that the average pupil has much trouble 
with Arithmetic. This is especially true with the girls — few of 
pupils (girls) ever becoming proficient in that branch. Others 
may not take the view as expressed by the writer on this point, 
but we are free to give the matter, as we have seen it through 
years of personal experience in the schoolroom. In this connec- 
tion we are prepared to go further and advance an opinion as to 
the reason our pupils have so much trouble with Arithmetic. 

(120) 



Teaching Numbers. 



121 



In the first place, we attribute some of the trouble to the lack 
of home training- In other words, the parents at home who must 
dve the child its first ideas, are themselves uneducated and can- 
not assist the child to form proper concepts of numbers, and 
hence it gets seven, eight and ten years of age before any assis- 
tance is liven it in thought making, therefore, when the child 
enters school it has no resources from which to draw. This view 
of the subject may corroborate the one held by some of the former 
masters concerning his lack of mental power, but our view is 
given for what it may be worth in this discussion. 

In the second place, in order that the young may have clear 
ideas and mathematical minds, their environment must be pure, 
cleanly, elevating and free from the low and vulgar In many 
cases, il is not so with the Negro child's environment-it comes 
to school many times burdened with a load of encumbrances of 
the most humble and degrading character. i ^ :„ ^„^ 

Third, many of the teachers who have been employed m our 
schools are responsible for much of the seeming dullness m mathe- 
matics which the pupils of the schools possess m a more or less 
degree. We make this charge advisedly, smce our relation with 
the schools for 30 years or more prepares us ^^^h mside informa- 
tion along this line. We mean in this connection, that the schools 
have many times employed teachers who were themselves not 
prepared in Arithmetic to teach the pupils under them. That 
this subject is a source of much trouble to many of our teachers 
in stated examinations, is generally known m this State among 
the school people, and many of our teachers are f ai mg in these ex- 
aminations by reason of their weakness along this line. 

Fourth, the weakness of pupils in the advanced grades may 
be justly attributed to the work in the grades below, for the pu- 
pils in the higher grades are usually what they are in the lower 
^ades. This is to say, that if pupils are started off poorly m the 
lower grades, the weakness follows them throughout the school. 

The primary training in numbers by teachers who are weakhngs 
in this subject, has much to do in affecting the life s work of stu- 
dents under their training. 

In view of the foregoing discussion, we offer some suggestions 
here, for the improvement in coming years of the work in Mathe- 
matics as taught in our schools. , . , -^-u +u^ 
(i) There should be an earher start made at home with the 
training of children. This idea assumes that the parent stock 
has been improved on in time to commence early to tram the 
offspring, and thus prepare the child at home for the education 
that must follow in subsequent years. ^ 4.Ur..r.,,crh 
(2) The training in the schoolroom should be more thorough, 



122 School- Room H el ns. 



and to insure thoroughness the teachers in charge of the school- 
room work should be of that class that have made special prep- 
aration along lines which they pretend to teach. In other words, 
teachers of Arithmetic ought to know something about the sub- 
ject, and should prepare for it or not offer themselves for the po- 
sition. 

(3) In the class work in the grades, there should be more drill 
work done by the teachers in Arithmetic. We believe in drill 
work in numbers from the time the child enters school at six or 
seven years old, till he finishes the High School. 

The minds of the young are plastic and capable of impressions 
in early years, which cannot be made in subsequent years. The 
more drill, the more thorough the impressions. 

Mr. White in his Elements of Pedagogy advocates drill work 
in the schools in the proportion of 4 to i, between the ages of 6 
and 10; about 3 to i between the ages of 10 and 14; about i to 3 
between the ages of 14 and 18. It will be seen, therefore, that 
the best authorities are agreed on the point of drills for primary 
work. We recall the work of the old school teacher under the in- 
fluence of the old education. It was drill in the Webster Speller; 
it was drill in Arithmetic when the pupils were called up at the 
opening of the school in the morning and drill in the multiplica- 
tion tables at stated times during the day, A tune was set to the 
multiplication tables and the song practiced twice a day, till any 
member of the class could raise the tune and sing the tables. 

It was drill in the Geography at the close of the day, or when- 
ever the class was called up to sing the Geography song, which 
was set to include all the States and capitals. With the present 
day teacher this kind of drill in the schoolroom is too fogy to be 
even discussed only as a relic of bygone days. But there were 
many good results obtained by the old way. Some of .our best 
teachers and scholars of the present day, were taught by the old 
system. 

While we do not advocate a return to those old methods, we do 
advocate the practice by present day methods, drills sufficient to 
rivet upon the minds of the pupils the principles and work gone 
over. 

(4) In order that the writer's idea of teaching this subject be 
outlined for practical purposes, the following plan of the study of 
Arithmetic is suggested: 

(a) Primary or oral work covering the first four years at 
school, {h) The Grammar school or work covering three years — 
Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Grades of the school, (c) The Advanced 
grades, or High School work, covering four years of work in the 
higher grades. 



Teaching Numhers. 123 



In this connection we shall now discuss in short, the work of 
numbers as we think it should be put in these departments, at the 
same time not hoping to cover in these few pages sufficient ground 
on this subject, to warrant a course of study, which could hardly 
be expected in a book on school management. We shall hope to 
merely touch the course — giving examples in some instances to 
illustrate our idea of teaching Arithmetic. 

(i) The first work in numbers should be concrete, and have for 
its purpose the teaching of numbers. Children have no idea as 
to what number is when they begin to count, and their progress 
will be rapid in proportion as they learn what number is, and how 
to multiply and decrease it. Much time in the primary grades 
has been spent by unskilful teachers in having pupils call out 
numbers without signing any names to them. It may sound well 
and appear to be advancing a pupil rapidly to have him learn to 
count the first year from one to one hundred. Indeed, under the 
old system we have taught many pupils to rattle away with num- 
bers to one hundred in three months. But what has been accom- 
plished when the pupil can count rapidly from one to one hun- 
dred? There is one thing accomplished which must be, namely, 
the mechanical work. Does the pupil have any conception of 
values from one to one hundred? 

The proper way to proceed is to go slowly, but surely, teaching 
concretely the numbers from one to ten, and from ten to twenty, 
etc. 

The following lessons will illustrate some steps in the year's 
work as prepared for this work by Mrs. N. L. Perry who has been 
in charge of the Primary grade in the Corsicana City School for 
eighl years. 

Most pupils when they come to school, know the numbers i and 
2, and sometimes their symbols. But to begin their systematic 
training these numbers are reviewed. The numeral frame in the 
hand of the teacher and blocks in the hands of pupils are accuriate 
material with which to begin. 

After a conversation about one object and two objects, pictures 
of blocks may be drawn on the board and copied by the pupils. 

Lesson I. 

□ S' © Q) 

□ □ WW QQ 0)0) 



This drill should be so thorough that pupils can tell at a glance 
how many are in each group. 



124 School-Room Helps. 



Lesson II. 

Then little problems are built thus : D + D = D D , and read 
one block and one block are two blocks. Other pictures are made 
to impress more indelibly upon the mind and also for seat employ- 
ment. 



0-^0 = 00 

1 + 1 = 2 

Lesson III. 

Pupils are now able to make little stories as one pencil and one 
pencil are two pencils. One tablet and one tablet are two tablets. 
One boy and one boy are two boys; etc. 

Pictures for seat employment may vary. 

Lesson IV' . 

This little game of "Hide and Seek," is played for the intro- 
duction of the separation of the number. Teacher holds up two 
pencils, the class says, "I see two pencils." One pencil is hidden, 
then the class says, "I see one pencil." Thorough drill on this, 
and the teaching of the meaning of the words less and leaves, this 
thought is developed, Two pencils less one pencil, leaves one pen- 
cil. 

The picture lesson for seat occupation may then be written on 
the board. 

D D - D= D 

2-1 = 1 

Lesson V . 

Number three is taken up after a thorough drill of number two. 

D 

DD 
DDD 

Drill on number in each group. 

Pupils with blocks in their hands should develop the two groups 
that make three, as one block and two blocks are three blocks, or 
two blocks and one block are three blocks. Other objects may be 
used in order that the lesson may not grow non-interesting. 



Teaching Numbers. 125 



Seat occupation : 

n+nn=nnn nn+n=nnn 

1+2=3 2+1=3 

Lesson VI. 

Number three is separated into its parts. 

Here again the blocks are used by the pupils. A group of three 
blocks is placed, one is taken away and the remainder is told by 
pupils. Next, another block is taken away and the remainder is 
toM by pupils Little stories are made by the class with the aid 
of the teacher, as, John has three blocks and lost one, how many 
had he then ? John had three blocks and lost two, how many had 
he then? 

Lesson VIL 

Number four is now developed : 

D 

nnn 
nnnn 

For group drill. — 

Each division of number four should be dwelt upon at length. 
Unless the class is very precocious, all the parts should not be 
given for one lesson. 

Pupils with the aid of the teacher can develop the first group of 
four, thus ; with four blocks held in one hand, or on the table, two 
groups are made, one group contains one block, and the other 
group contains three blocks. The pupils will readily see that one 
block and three blocks are four blocks. 

This group should be thoroughly drilled, and little stories made. 

Section 2 — ^With blocks two groups are made, each group con- 
taining two blocks; two blocks and two blocks are four blocks. 

Section 3 — Two groups are made, one group containing three 
blocks, and one containing one block : three blocks and one block 
are four blocks. 

For seat occupation under each section the pictures may be 
made. 

n+nnD=nnnn 

1+3=4 

nn+nn=nnnn 

2+2=4 



126 School-Room Helps. 



nnn+n=nnnn 

3 + 1=4 
Lesson VIII. 

This lesson should be a thorough review of all the lessons thus 
far, also a picture, thus learning to do by doing. 

B'+S' ~SW 

1 + 1=2 




3 + 1 = 4 

Lesson I X. 

The game of Hide and Seek may be played in learning to sep- 
arate the number four into its parts. The teacher holds four 
blocks, or other objects as the case may be, before the class — the 
class says, "I see four blocks." The teacher takes away one 
block, the class says, "I see three blocks." The teacher takes 
away two blocks, the class says, "I see two blocks." The teacher 
takes away three blocks, the class says, "I see one block." After 
thorough drill, the class should be able to make a picture on their 
tablets of lesson learned. 

Seat occupation : 

Dnnn-n=nnn 

4-1=3 

nnDn-nn=nn 

4-2=2 

nDnn-nnn=n 

4-3 = 1 

Other pictures may be made, and the class may otherwise be 
occupied by separating the number, using beans, pebbles, corn, 
etc., using straws or splints to make the signs. 



Teachtng Nimihers 127 

Lesson X. 

Number five is next developed. 

D 

DD 

DDD 

D D D D 

DDDnn 
For group drill. — 

The class may be able in this lesson to develop all the parts of 
number five in one lesson. The ability and age of the class should 
be the guide. The class using blocks may develop the number. 
One block and four blocks are five blocks. Two blocks and three 
blocks are five blocks. Three blocks and two blocks are five 
blocks Four blocks and one block are five blocks. Little sto- 
ries may be made and illustrated by pupils. The teacher says, 
"One bean and four beans are five beans," at the same time 
each pupil makes the groups on desk. 

Seat occupation. 

1+4 = 5 
2+3 = 5 
3+2 = 5 



4+1 = 5 

These lessons as given, do not mean one lesson for each day, be- 
cause the class may not be able to grasp each lesson thoroughly. 

The Second Grade Work. 

The second grade work of pupils in numbers should continue as 
begun in the first year with the use of concrete examples. Where 
the first year's work leaves off, the second year should begin. 

The following drills are suggested; 
6 balls and i ball are 7 balls. 
6 balls and 2 balls are 8 balls. 
6 balls and 3 balls are 9 balls. 
6 balls and 4 balls are 10 balls. 
6 balls and 5 balls are 1 1 balls. 
6 balls and 6 balls are 12 balls. 



128 



School- Room Helps. 



6 balls and 7 balls are 13 balls. 
6 balls and 8 balls are 14 balls. 
6 balls and 9 balls are 15 balls. 

Memory Practice. 
6-1 = "^ 



6-2 = 

6-3 = 
6-4 = 

6-5 = 
6-6 = 



7-1+2 



7-2+3= 

7-3+4=? 

7-4+5=? 

7-5+6=? 

7-6+7= 

7-7+8= 

3 marbles +2 marbles — 2 marbles =? 

4 cats + 4 cats — 3 cats = ? 

5 cats +5 cats — 4 cats= ? 

6 chicks +3 chicks — 5 chicks = ? 
Abstract numbers for practice : 

1+2+3+2+3 = ? (2.) 1 + 1 + 1+1 + 1 + 1+2+2+2 = ? 

1+4 + 1+3+4=? 2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2 = ? 

1+3+2+3+5 + 1 = ? 

1+4+1+2+6+2=? 

1+5+2+3+5+1=? 

1+6+3+1+4+1=? 

(3.) OVO = ? 



2+3+2+3+2+2+2+2 + 1 =? 



2X2 = 

2x3 = 

2x4 = 

2x5 = 

2X6 = 



(4.) 3x1 = ? 
3x2 = ? 

3x3 = ? 
3x4 = ? 

= ? 



(5.) 4x1 = ? 



4x2 



= ? 



4x3 = ? 



4x4 



= ? 



3x5 = •'' 4x5 ■■ 

Lessons in concrete numbers. 

6. Mary sells 8 eggs on Monday, 9 on Tuesday, 12 on Wed- 
nesday, 14 on Thursday, 16 on Friday, and 20 on Saturday; how- 
many eggs were sold in all? 

Rapid combination — 



7- 


Add 
22 
12 
24 


(2.) 24 
21 
32 


(30467 
243 
224 


(4.) 678 
434 
256 




8. 
From 
Take 


Subtraction : 

86 (2.) 98 
43 24 


(3.) 164 
41 


(40248 
123 




9. 

From 
Take 


48 
29 


(2.) 69 
23 


(3.) 87 
35 


(4.) 224 
106 


(5.) 886 
194 



Teaching Numbers 129 



Third Grade. 

Some teachers advocate the use of the book for the third year's 
work. That is, the use of the book by the pupils. But in our 
experience pupils do better work under the direction of the teach- 
er than with book in hand. 

Under the direction of the teacher the work of the third year 
can be taught advantageously to the class, since the teacher can 
arrange and suggest arrangement, can select the kind of problems 
suited to the age and habits of thinking of the pupils. 

The following selections and arrangement of drills are suggested : 

1. Counting by 2's to 100. 

2. Counting by 3 's to 100. 

3. Counting by 4's to 100. 

4. Counting by 5's to 100. 
Concrete work. 

5. What will six days' work bring at $1.22, $2.24, $3.56, $2.50, 
^^4.50, $2.67? 

6. If a pair of shoes cost $2.75 and sold for $4.50, what was the 
difference in the buying and selling ? 

7. Drill work: rapid combinations — 

1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8=? 

2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9=? 
3+4+5+6+7 + 8+9 + 10=? 
4+5+6+7+8+9 + 10+11 = ? 
5+6 + 7 + 8+9 + ^0+11 + 12 = ? 
To be added up or down also. 

8. 8-2+3 = ? 
8-3+2=? 
8-4+4=? 

8-5+5=? 
8-6+6=? 

8-7+7=? 

9-8+8=? 

10-9+9 = ? 

11 — 10 + 10= ? 

12 — ii + ii = ? 

9. Teach the multiplication tables from 2 to 10 with practical 
problems and drills. 

10. Oral Drill: 

5[25 5I28 5l30_ 5I37. 5|4L 

6 |i8 6 I24 6 I27 6 I32 6 |37 



7 1 14 7 I20 7 I31 7L1L 7[3L 

'8Ll6_ 8[2^L 8|jo_ 8|j7_ S\jo_ 



130 School-Room 


Helps. 




Drill and seat work 








II. Add— 








(i.)245 (2.) 657 


(30 476 


(4-) 444 


(5)678 


246 548 


245 


546 


781 


224 263 


234 


123 


313 


245 231 


542 


898 


545 


245 


346 


423 


718 






234 


346 






434 


745 






434 


854 



12. If John can ride 25 miles in 5 hours, how far can he ride in S 
hours? 9 hours? 10 hours? 

Fourth Grade Work. 

Beginning where the third grade left off, the fourth grade con- 
tinues to do drill work both in concrete problems as well as in ab- 
stract problems selected by the teacher. 

1. Countby 5'sandby 6's to 100. 

2 . Count backward by 3 from 1 00 to i . 

3. Count backward by 4 and 5. 

Drill work — 

(4.) 10 + 20+40+60 + 50=? 
5 + 10 + 20+10+15 = ? 
20+10+5 + 25 + 25 = ? 
40+15 + 20+30 + 60=? 
50 + 25 + 5 + 10+30=? 
60 + 30+5 + 10+15 = ? 
Count up or down. 

5. If you work 6 days for $2.40, what will 9 days' work bring? 
8 days? 10 days? 

6. Teach the multiplication tables thoroughly from i to 12 with 
practical problems illustrating. 

7. If 8 pounds of cheese cost 40 cents, how many pounds will 
pay for 10 pounds of nuts at 8 cents a pound? 

8. Drill work : rapid combinations. 
(I.) 24245 2486 

24247 2784 

78454 5474 

84467 2676 

25448 2348 

24744 2424 

22222 4446 

33332 2784 



Teaching Numbers. 131 



9- 


45 

lO 


45 

lOO 

lo 45CX) 
ii|88 


45 

lOOO 


45 
1 0000 




lO. 


ioo| 45000 
10 1 1000 


1000 J45000 
100 j 4000 



The work of the first four grades of the public school as indicat- 
ed above, is intended to be oral; and is to be supplied by the 
teacher. As we mentioned in the commencement of this chap- 
ter, we don't intend to prepare an arithmetic here for the benefit 
of the classes, but rather a suggestion of drill work, since in our 
experience of managing schools we find that there is not sufficient 
drill work done by the teachers to make sure the steps gone over. 

The Grammar School Arithmetic. 

The book is put in the hands of the pupils in the fifth year, and 
the work done under the guidance of the teacher. Pupils should 
be taught to be independent and to learn the solutions of problems 
themselves rather than depend upon the teacher or anyone else 
to do the work for them. 

There is much sham work done in the Grammar School when 
pupils begin to use the book. Lazy pupils depend upon the 
bright ones to get the answers to problems, and when they fail to 
get answers they lose interest in their work. 

In the fifth year, much practice work should be given both in 
the book in hand, and in supplementary work. When all the 
problems have been worked in the text in hand, the teacher 
should give as much supplementary work as the time and condi- 
tion will allow, always keeping in mind the more practice, the 
more thorough will the pupils become. 

The Aim. — The prime aim in the Grammar grades should be, 
with the teacher, to create a love for research — a desire to work 
out the answers to problems and prove the result. In other 
words, a love for independent thinking. This was not the aim 
of the common school teacher of the old school, whose highest 
ambition was to go over the work even with his method of getting 
the answers out for pupils and doing much of the work for them. 

The time is demanding much improvement in our methods of 
teaching Arithmetic in the school room, in order that the pupils 
that go out from us annually, may become more independent in 
their work in the school examination and in their life work. 

Fractions. — Some author has said that a thorough knowledge of 
fractions is a thorough knowledge of arithmetic. That there is. 



132 School- Room Helps. 



much in this saying, may be judged from the work of teachers and 
pupils who have mastered fractions. Pupils who work fractions 
readily have little trouble with other forms of arithmetic. 

The first work in the teaching of fractions is to develop the idea 
that the parts make up the whole. It is hard for children to see this, 
and if they are not started off properly, they labor in the dark a 
long time. Some teachers are at a loss as to how to begin the 
teaching of fractions — whether to begin with an apple, an orange, 
a piece of crayon, a stick or a line on the blackboard. Why not 
take any convenient object — a piece of paper, a square figure or a 
rectangle made on the board, cut into halves to develop the idea 
of a half, and from the half into fourths to develop the idea of one- 
fourth? 

Talking from the text book about one-half and one-fourth, or 
one-fifth is not teaching the idea to the class, but better take an 
object in your hand and illustrate to the eye of the pupil what you 
wish him to see, and many times the vagueness disappears and 
the child sees at once the whole piece of paper and the two halves, 
or three thirds, or four fourths which make up the whole. 

This vagueness overshadowed the writer for some time when 
he was beginning the study of fractions, because the teacher him- 
self was vague and did not clearly see. The teaching of the sub- 
ject of fractions depends upon the teacher. If the subject is clear 
in his or her mind it can be made clear to the pupils' mind and 
the thoughtful ones of them will soon learn it. 

The following facts must be made clear in the teaching of frac- 
tions : 

1. The unit of the fraction. That is, the whole number which 
has been divided into parts. 

2. The fractional unit — anyone of the equal parts into which 
the unit is divided. 

3. That the whole number is equal to the sum of its parts, and 
the sum of its parts is equal to the whole. 

4. That the denominator shows the number of parts into which 
the unit has been divided, and that the numerator shows how 
many parts are taken. 

5. That fractions are added or subtracted or divided when they 
are reduced to similar denominations. 

6. How to change fractions to similar denominators by inspec- 
tion. 

7. How to shorten the process of multiplication by factoring or 
cancellation. 

8. How to divide fractions without inverting the terms of di- 
visors. 

9. That decimal fractions differ from common fractions only in 



Teaching Numbers. 133 



their denominations, and that one can be converted into the other. 
ID. That the decimal point sets the value to the fraction and 
therefore, this point can never be overlooked in the handling of 
decimals. 

Advanced Grades. 

As has been mentioned in the primary grades, the pupil will be 
in the advanced grades what he has been in the lower grades, with 
sometimes notable exceptions. The rule, we believe, will work. 
If a pupil has started off with a poor foundation, he will, of course, 
build on that foundation and in after years the structure will be 
insecure. This is to say, that if the pupils in the primary grades 
do not get the rudiments of arithmetic and the principles fixed in 
those grades, they will be, in consequence, weakened in the ad- 
vanced grades and during the entire course in school the effect 
of the poor start will be felt. 

It is very necessary therefore, to see to it that the strongest 
teachers be put at the bottom where the foundation is to be laid. 
Having this as it should be, then it follows that the good work be- 
gun should be continued throughout the course, for there is such a 
thing as checking the growth of a plant for want of moisture or 
air, or stopping the advancement of a pupil for want of proper 
light on the subject. 

Pupils in the advance grades should be made to do independent 
work even more so than in the grammar school. Here is where 
the mathematicians are to be developed, and students must be 
held to independent and individual work. 

We have emphasized and made prominent this matter of inde- 
pendent work, for the reason that in our experience in Negro 
schools there is much sham work done and many students are 
being carried along on the wings of a few strong ones. We trust 
therefore, to direct the attention (in this little work) of the teach- 
ers to this weakness, that efforts will be taken to improve the 
scholarship of the advanced grades in order that the products of 
the schools in the future, may be stronger and more healthy than 
at present. 

Some Suggestions for the Advanced Work. 

1. Students should be required to study at home the arithmetic 
lessons assigned at school, 

2. The teacher should allow students to think for themselves, 
and not work out the problems for them. Some teachers take the 
time of the school in working out the long, hard problems for the 
students. Better lead them into the way and allow them to dis- 
cover for themselves the hidden truths. It is better to make sug- 



134 School- Room Helps. 



gestions and retain the class after hours for special assistance 
than attempting in the class to save time by doing all the work. 

;^. Frequent Examinations or Reviews. — Frequent reviews in the 
advanced classes of problems gone over, will have much to do in 
making the step taken clear, and fix in the minds of the students 
the principles underlying the work. 

4. Pupils should be required to analyze the major part of the 
problems given in their daily work. There is no such thing as 
written solutions of problems. Solutions are mental. That is, 
the process by which the solution is made is a mental process and 
the written work is the putting into words the mental solution. 
Without this mental solution there can be no written problem. 

Analysis is the soul of arithmetic, and should be employed by 
teachers without stint, to develop the minds of slow students. 

The following problem analyzed step by step will assist the pu- 
pil to see the process: A man had ^§250, 3-25 of which was 5-6 of 6 
times what his son had; what did his son have? Analysis: — If 
$250 is 3-25 of some number, 1-25 of that number is 10, and 3-25 
is 3 times 10 or 30; if 30 is 5-6 of a number, 1-6 is 1-5 of 30, or 6, 
and 6-6 is 6 times 6 or 36; if 36 is 6 times a certain number, once 
the number is $6. 

5. Percentage. — The subject which stands next in importance 
to fractions in arithemtic is, in our opinion. Percentage. Stu- 
dents should begin early on this subject, for it is most essential in 
its bearing on the business side of the student's life. While this 
subject is essential to the preparation of students for business, and 
while it is a fact that there is little business transacted without the 
principles of percentage coming in to solve the problems, it is a 
fact that our students begin the study of this subject late and 
therefore, few of them master the principle. 

A seventh or eighth grade pupil is tardy who does not see or 
cannot readily estimate the relation between 4 pounds of butter 
and 6 pounds of butter. It is not hard to see that the difference 
between 4 pounds and 6 pounds is 2 pounds. But to see the ratio 
between 2 and 4 and to express the ratio in percentage is not easily 
seen by the average seventh or eighth grade pupil. 

Students in the seventh grade should be trained to see that if 
a load of wood was bought for $3 and sold for $4, that the gain is 
$1, or 1-3 the cost. One-third of the cost is 1-3 of a hundred per 
cent, or 331-3 per cent; that a horse was sold for $90, which in- 
cluded 20 per cent more than the cost of the horse, and that the 
selling price of the horse, $90 included 100 per cent plus 20 per 
cent, or 120 per cent; in other words the selling price, $90, equals 
5-5 plus 1-5, or 6-5; then 1-5 of the cost price is 1-6 of 90, or 15; 
and 5-5 is 5 times 15, or $75. 



Teaching Numbers. 135 



Work of this kind should be done readily by advanced pupils, or 
else there is not much progress in arithmetic. We trust what we 
have said on this point may be sufficient to emphasize the necessi- 
ty of more thorough work for the students of the public school. 

Summary : — 

I — Afro- Americans have serious trouble with arithmetic. 

2 — It was said the Negro could not learn arithmetic. 

3 — It was soon seen that the Negro could learn. 

4 — He does have trouble — especially the girls. 

5 — We advance an opinion: (a) Home training, (b) Lack of 
proper environment, (c) May be attributed to teaching, (d) 
The weakness in advanced grades may be attributed to the lower 
grades. 

6. Some suggestions are offered: I, II, III, IV. 

7. A discussion of numbers as it should be taught in the classes. 

8. The first work should be concrete. 

9. The way to proceed — go slowly. 
ID. Lessons by Mrs. N. L. Perry. 

11. The Second Year's work. 

12. The Third Year's work. 

13. The Fourth Year's work. 

14. The Grammar School Arithmetic: (a) Sham work. (6) 
The aim. {c) Fractions. 

15. The Advanced Grades. 

16. Some suggestions for teaching in the Advanced grades. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



XIX, HISTORY--AN OUTLINE. 



That the study of History should commence very early in the 
grades, is the concensus of testimony by the leading school men. 
The study of History differs somewhat from other branches such 
as Arithmetic, etc., since there is not much work in it, but more in 
the love for reading and research. : 

The love for reading must be commenced or encouraged early 
in the years of a pupil's schooling, in order that the growth may be 
onward and upward. In order to stimulate this love for reading 
and the facts of history, the parent should commence it at home. 

We do not intend in this connection, to treat at length upon the 
subject of History, but merely give a plan of teaching it to classes, 
and also treat in short, upon its introduction into the classes— 
(time and place are meant here.) 

History may be defined as the narration of the events of the 
world. Herodotus says that history is investigation and what 
reveals for our understanding. Emerson and Carlyle say that 
the history of the world is constituted of the biography of its great 
men. Others say that history is a record of political movements. 

There is a varied number of definitions as to what history is, 
which need not concern us to the extent that we follow up these 
definitions. Suffice it for our purpose at this time to know, that 
history is a study and occupies a very important place in the 
course of study. 

The great question which concerns the teacher is. How can I 
make history so interesting to pupils that they will like it and put 
sufficient time on it to get into the spirit of the author and live 
the history again ? 

The Indifferent Pupil. 

The greatest trouble that the teachers have in the schools in the 
teaching of history, is the lifeless indiflference manifested by stu- 
dents in the study of the subject, and there is much anxiety on 

(136) 



History — An Outline. 137 



the part of the teacher all the time as to how to arouse an interest 
in these indifferent pupils. 

The fault is not so much in the nature of the study as in the na- 
ture of the student and in the nature of the instruction which the 
student has had during the years of preparation for the advanced 
grade. 

History is the recorded events of the world, and the child that 
has been trained early in life to read and appreciate the best lit- 
erature, will not find it hard to get a history lesson. The trouble, 
as a rule, is in the fact that the mind of the average boy or girl in 
our grammar schools or in our High schools, has been under the in- 
fluence of light literature : the dime novel, Wild West, The James 
Boys, and the like, to the extent that serious literature does 
not appeal to him or her. The study of a history lesson concern- 
ing the discovery of America, the coming of the Pilgrims to this 
country, the wars among the colonies, the Revolutionary War, 
the development of the country, are facts which have no special 
interest to the untrained mind of the student. 

When and Where to Begin. 

The love for reading, for good literature, must be trained into 
the pupil early in life — even on the knees of the mother, when she 
tells stories to her boy of the doings of the people of Greece, of 
Rome, of Europe, of Asia, or of Africa or of Mexico. 

This is to say, the child must be trained while under the influ- 
ence of its first teacher to love serious things as well as ephemeral 
things ; to love to read of the achievements of great men ; the bat- 
tles of great warriors and the victories of heroes, as well as the 
things which satisfy the fancy and furnish amusement. 

The teaching of History commences, we repeat, as soon as the 
child commences to listen to the stories told on the knees of the 
mother who engages her boy concerning the deeds of valor by the 
world's great heroes. 

For the purpose of stating our plan of teaching this subject, we 
would suggest the following as appropriate divisions into which 
the subject may be taught : 

(i) Tegendary or Story Telling. 

(2) Primary or Real. 

(3) Advanced History — (a) Past. (6) Current, 

The Story Telling period of the child's life is commenced at 
home as indicated above, and the parent is the teacher. 

No period in the life of the child is so full of curiosity, so full of 
inquiry into the unknown as the period of infancy, when the child 
sits upon the mother's knees as she tells a story of Mother Goose 



138 School- Room Helps. 



or Uncle Remus. This is the period when the mind of the child 
is most plastic and ever prolific. It will bear the most delicate 
touch and receive the most lasting impressions. 

The materials that should be collected by the parents or teacher 
for the use of children during the story-telling period, are as fol- 
lows: 

Mother Goose Stories. 
Uncle Remus' Fairy Tales. 

Aesop's Fables, etc., any stories which are not of the ghost 
character. 

Primary or Real History. 

Primary or real history should begin by having the children 
read the stories of the heroes of our country, of the deeds and val- 
or of the great men of the world, and of the wars waged by the an- 
cients, as well as by the natives of our country. The following 
will be suggestive : 

The Story of Troy. 

The Founding of Rome. 

Miles Standish. 

Washington's Hatchet. 

George Washington as a Soldier. 

George Washington as a President. 

The Story of John Smith. 

The Story of Fred Douglass, the slave. 

Booker T. Washington's Struggles. 

Advanced History. 

Reading of pupils ought to be under the guidance of a person 
who can select the proper books to be read by the young. 

The history of our own country should be read by students 
before the history of other countries. The following order of 
reading and study will be suggestive : 

The History of the United States. 

The History of England, the Mother Country. 

The History of our State — Texas. 

The History of Other Countries. 

Ancient and Mediaeval History. 

Current History. 

Current History should be taught in the classes at the time it 
happens. Why defer the teaching or narrating to the classes the 
event of the year of 1 9 1 2 , till they come out in after years in a book 
Why not give them to the class while they are alive and bristling 
with interest? Current happenings have more interest for them 
than the past. Give them while they are fresh. 



History — An Outline 



139 



them may assist someone in preparing for the teaching of this sub- 
ject: 



Historical Outline 



Legendary Story-telling 



Primary-Real 



Advanced-United States 
and Texas — 



The Story of Troy 
Romulus 
Remus 

Mother Goose 
Aesop's Fables 
Alice in Wonderland 
Grimm's Fairy Tales 
Gulliver's Travels 
Robinson Crusoe 

Stories about the following: 

George Washington 

Abe Lincoln 

Benjamin Franklin 

Discovery of America 

Columbus 

The Pilgrim Fathers 

John Smith 

Miles Standish 

Fred Douglass 

Booker T. Washington 

Slavery 

Written Past: 

England, Washington, Jefferson, 
Webster, Africa, Lincoln, Wendell 
Phillips, Mexico, Patrick Henry, 
Gladstone, Canada, Calhoun, Queen 
Victoria, Ancient, Mediaeval and 
Present, Toussaint L'Overtiu'e 

Unwritten Current: 

Tuskegee, Booker T. Washington, 
Race History, Roosevelt, The Rival 
Parties, Wm. J. Bryan. 



Methods of Teaching History. 

Most teachers of History agree as to the method of teaching 
History, that is, the method of having pupils recite. The follow- 
ing are the recognized and most popular methods : 

(a) The Topic. Calling on pupils to recite by topics, the teacher 
having assigned these to pupils before hand or at the time of re- 
cital. 

(b) The Catechetical is the question method. This is the meth- 
od of asking questions on the lesson and drawing the pupil out by 
a series of set questions. 

(c) The Lecture Method. This is the method of lecturing on the 
subject to the class covering the points which the teacher wishes 
the pupils to know, while the pupil with pencil in hand, takes 
down the teacher's lecture. 

For advanced pupils in High schools, the Topic method is the 
most preferable, since it makes the pupils more independent and 
robs him of the possibilities of riding on someone else. It devel- 
ops individuality and encourages resourcefulness. 

The following Outline of the facts to be taught as we present 



140 School-Room Helps. 



The Catechetical is open to some criticism, since it encourages 
the "yes" and "no" habit. Pupils can answer questions with no 
thought if the teacher is not a very skilful questioner. The ques- 
tion method is sometimes called the Socratic method when it in- 
tends to develop a logical line of thought by a series of logical ques- 
tions. 

This method is very powerful in the hands of a skilful ques- 
tioner. 

The Lecture Method is generally used in the Colleges and the Un- 
iversities where students are mature, and where they are more 
capable by reason of long years of training, to take lectures with 
the pen. 

Summary : — 

I — The study of History should begin early. 

2 — The love for reading should be encouraged early. 

3 — We shall not treat at length upon the subject. 

4 — Definitions by Herodotus, Emerson and Carlyle. 

5 — The great questions which concern teachers. 

6 — The indifferent pupils and the trouble which follows. 

7 — When and how to begin. 

8 — Divisions of History : Legendary or Story-Telling, Primary 

or real, Advanced History: past and current. 
9 — Historical Outline, 
lo — Methods of teaching History. 



CHAPTER XV. 



XX. COMPOSITION LESSONS--HOW 
TO TEACH. 



Composition is the art of expressing one's thoughts. The term 
is usually restricted to the expression of connected thoughts by 
means of written language. 

Importance. 

The importance of teaching pupils to compose or express their 
thoughts correctly, connectedly, and impressively cannot be over- 
estimated. It is a good test as to the abihty to use the language 
when the pupil expresses his thoughts easily and smoothly. 

Someone says that there is no more desirable accomplishment 
than the ability to express one's self elegantly and tersely in one's 
own language. It is valuable for one to be able to express his 
thoughts in Greek, or German, or Hebrew, for they give him dis- 
cipline; but the abihty to express fluently the Mother tongue, is 
to be prized above all else. To do this, the pupils should be 
taught early to express their thoughts clearly and naturally. It 
will require much drill and practice in composing. 

Composition should begin the first day the pupil enters school, 
and be kept up throughout the school course. It should be com- 
position of the short sentences, in the first year ; with longer ones 
and short paragraphs the second and third years. It should be 
Composition in the Spelling classes, in the Arithmetic classes, in 
the Geography classes, and Composition and Construction in 
every recitation in the schoolroom. 

Raub, in his "Methods of Teaching," indicates the following ad- 
vantages of teaching Composition : 

(i) It gives valuable culture to the mental powers, employing 
not only observation but memory, imagination, understanding 
and reason. 

(2) It cultivates a taste for reading. The student who is 
taught to compose and express his own thoughts, reads eagerly 
the thoughts of others in order to make comparison, and also be- 

(141) 



142 School- Room Helps. 



cause he acquires taste for literature in the effort to express his 
own. 

(3) It trains the learner to think. The day has gone by, when 
pupils were expected to write on all sorts of subjects, even such as 
were entirely beyond their comprehension. The writer must 
have something to say before he can say it. 

(4) It gives language culture. The best way to learn to ex- 
press ourselves properly, is to compose and to record our thoughts 
on paper. 

(5) It creates interest. We never read a paragraph so closely 
or with as much interest as when we expect to reproduce it; nor 
do we observe at any other time so closely as when we are desirous 
of conveying to others our observations. There can be no com- 
position without something to say, and the pupil has nothing to 
say unless he has been taught language. Though the child may 
have had a rich inheritance, he cannot be left to environment. 
He must study and practice and earnestly strive to improve. 

The following directions and hints may serve to guide the 
teacher, rather than the pupils, in teaching composition : 

(i) Good training in the other language arts, and particularly 
in language lessons, should prepare the way for formal composi- 
tion. It will rob the Essay of half its terror. 

(2) In composition, it is peculiarly important to enlist the in- 
terest and pleasure of the pupil. Mere drill is useful as in arith- 
metic, but it will accomplish little in composition. 

(3) The choice of a subject is important. The subject de- 
termines the pupil's source of matter, — matter and style cannot 
be separated. If he has an abundance of ideas, he is likely to ex- 
press himself with clearness and force. 

(4) As a rule, the teacher should choose and assign the subject. 
If this not done, the pupil is likely to lose much valuable time in 
making a choice — and a bad choice at last. 

Still more definite suggestions — 

(i) The teacher should not throw subjects around the class at 
random, but as far as possible, consult the individual taste and ca- 
pacity of each. 

(2) Avoid abstract subjects and general themes. Choose those 
that are concrete and particular. 

(3) In the elementary school, book subjects should be used spar- 
ingly. Take subjects from nature and life. 

Students should be taught first, to understand clearly : 

I. (a) A phrase, (b) a clause, (c) a paragraph (d) a sentence. 

II. Students should be taught to understand and construct 
sentences as to form as follows: (a) Simple, (b) Compound, (c) 
Complex. 



Composition Lessons — How to Teach. 143 

III. Sentences as to meaning: (a) Declarative, {h) Interroga- 
tive, (c) Imperative, {d) Exclamatory. With these clearly de- 
fined in practice, pupils can make progress in composition. 

The following is suggestive in teaching Composition to the 
grades according to age and capacity: (i) The first year let pu- 
pils copy paragraphs from the reading lessons and from such book 
as they may have in hand. (2) Copying from dictation. This 
is very valuable exercise, since it requires that pupils think as 
well as write. (3) Have pupils reproduce stories which have 
been read or related to them. 

Some rules from Mr. Hill on Choice of Subject: — (a) A subject 
must have unity. It should not be a complexity of thoughts. 
(6) It must not be too broad, {c) It must be clear, {d) The sub- 
ject must be fresh. Do not take old and musty themes, {e) 
The writer must have interest in his subject. (/) The writer 
should write about something which he believes, (g) He should 
choose a subject suited to his powers. 

The Sources of Material Should Be as Follows : 

(a) From observation, {h) From Reading, (c) From Conversa- 
tion. 

Arrangement of Material. 

(a) There should be an introduction 

(&) There must be a discussion 

(c) There must be a conclusion 

Some authors regard six parts to every oration as follows : — 

(i) The Exordium (2) The Division 

(3) The Statement (4) The Reasoning 

(5) The Appeal (6) The Peroration 

How to Outline a Subject. 

(i) By means of questions and answers. 
An Apple. 

(a) Do you like apples ? 

(b) Why do you like them ? 

(c) Do many people like them? 

(d) Where do they grow ? 

(e) What is the shape and size of an apple? 
(/) What is the color? 

(g) When is it ripe ? 

(h) What is the appearance inside and outside? 
(i) How are they cultivated ? 
(/) Do you cultivate any ? 
(^) Do you like to cultivate them? 
I like apples because they are sweet and pleasant to the 



144 School- Room Helps. 



taste. Most people like apples. They grow almost everywhere 
in moderate climate. 

In size they vary according to growth, and in shape they are 
round or oval. 

When they are unripe they are green in color, but when ripe 
they are yellow and red. 

When they are ripe they are mellow and fall off the tree. 

The outside is smooth, the inside has the seed in it. 

They are cultivated by nursery men in orchards and farmers on 
the farm. 

I would like so much to have an orchard or a farm and 
cultivate apples. 

(2) By means of Outline. 
My Hat. 

(a) Of what material. 

(b) How is material produced? 

(c) Describe the cultivation of material. 

(d) Describe the industry. 
{e) How it is made. 

(/) The wholesale merchant. 
(g) The retail merchant. 
(h) How you bought it. 
The composition is brought down to practical work when the 
teacher draws upon the pupil's own stock of knowledge. 
The following is suggestive for teaching the Composition. : 
(i) Begin the Composition work early and continue it through- 
out the course. 

(2) Confine pupils to concrete subjects and allow freedom of 
thought, but correct and connect their thoughts as they go. 

(3) Letter writing should commence very early in the course, 
for this is to be the work of the pupil throughout life. 

Teach how to write business letters, friendly letters, bills, notes, 
and all forms of social letters. 

(4) The pupil will excel in writing if he is made to practice. It 
is with writing as with other studies, the more we practice the 
more thorough the pupil becomes. 

(5) The practice in the use of capitals, punctuation, paragraph- 
ing, should never be under-estimated, but stressed one dayjn and 
one day out. 

Summary : — 

I — Importance of the subject. 

2 — There is no more desirable accomplishment. 

3 — Composition should begin the first day of school. 

4— Raub in his "Methods" indicates. 



Composition Lessons — How to Teach. 



145 



5 — The guide to teachers, rather than to pupils. 

6 — Still more definite suggestions. 

7 — Student should be taught to understand clearly. 

8 — Teaching according to grades and age. 

9 — Some rules from Mr Hill. 

ID— Sources of material and arrangement. 

1 1 — Some authors regard six parts. 

12 — By means of questions. 

13 — My Hat. 

14 — Suggestion for teaching Composition. 



I 



CHAPTER XVL 



XXL GEOGRAPHY--WHEN AND HOW 
TO BEGIN. 



The subject of Geography is one closely allied to the subject 
of History, and it is one which should go hand in hand with His- 
tory. The question which would arise is, which subject should 
take the precedence ? That is, which study, History or Geog- 
raphy, should come first. 

In the nature of the case it is clear, that since the first bits of 
history in the form of stories are given to the child as soon as it be- 
gins to form its language, it would appear that history is the first 
to be seated upon the "checker board." This is to say that the 
pupil must get an idea in his head that something exists, and then 
the next idea is, where ? In what place ? 

The subject of Geography has been divided into a number of 
parts which correspond to the many views of the numerous per- 
sons who have written on the subject. Some one has made the 
following divisions : Descriptive, Commercial, Physical. 

Another divides it for convenience of study thus:— (i) Oral or 
Home; (2) Primary; (3) Physical. 

It will be our aim in this connection to discuss this subject not 
so much from the viewpoint of the accustomed outlines, as from 
the utilitarian point of view, since all branches of study as taught 
in the schoolroom in this day of new ideas, must take on the prac- 
tical in order to keep up with the trend of education. 

The study of Geography in the public schools like every other 
study, has undergone a change of method. In the old school this 
branch was taught from questions at the bottom of the page. 
Much time was spent by the pupils in looking up these questions 
and fixing the answers in their memories. The teacher, too, spent 
much of his time in looking up the answers to the Geography 
questions and preparing them for the class. The author remem- 
bers the time when the geography lesson was converted into a 
tune and the whole school sang the location of the capital cities. 

(146) 



Geography — When and How to Begin. • 147 



In this day, such a procedure in the schoolroom would subject 
the teacher to severe criticism and the school called a back num- 
ber. 

Practical Geography. 

The present day method of teaching Geography aims at the 
practical — a kind of Geography which can be put to every day use. 

Why have the child spend much time in finding places on the 
earth, before it knows anything about earth and its inhabitants 
Why locate Denver, on the Colorado river without first knowing 
something of Colorado and its people? Why need the child know 
that there is such a place as Denver unless he desires to know the 
relation that place has to the people in that State or in other 
States, or what relation that place has to commerce or to travel, 
etc.? 

Some people hold that Geography does not necessarily need to 
be taught in the schools; that the student will learn all the ge- 
ography necessary in life as he needs it. 

This idea assumes that when the student becomes educated in 
other branches of study, he will be enabled to learn all the geog- 
raphy he needs, whenever the information is wanted. 

For instance, a man who has never studied Geography wishes to 
:go to some distant city to buy a bill of goods. Is it necessary that 
he should study Geography in order that he should know where 
and how to go ? It is necessary that he get this information from 
some source. If he is an intelligent man, he is a reader, and read- 
ing gives him the information whether he has ever seen a Geog- 
raphy. 

Another view — A man wishes to move to California, or to some 
State where the soil is productive and where the climate is salu- 
brious. Does he get his information from the book as to whether 
California is the place where he wishes to go? In other words, if 
lie is an intelligent man, will he not know about the productive- 
ness of that State without ever having studied the Geography? 

It is held therefore in Hne with this argument, that much of the 
'Study on this branch of study might be shortened and the time put 
upon other branches more important. 

No Departure. 

We do not intend by the introduction of this argument to de- 
part from the study of Geography as is followed by the schools, 
but rather to inject this extraneous thought for consideration, 
thus giving a turn in the usual trend on this subject. Let us take 
for granted that the time is demanding a practical geography and 
that our schools must have it 



148 School-Room Helps. 



History and Geography Correlated. 

As indicated in the beginning of this subject, History and Geog- 
raphy go parallel in the study of this country. Indeed, they are 
so closely allied that the one should not be studied without the 
other. It should be understood, therefore, in the study of this 
subject, that as rapidly as the pupils advance in History, its twin 
sister be taken by the hand and carried every step of the way. 

McMurry, in his chapter on "Concentration" says, "The rela- 
tion between History and Geography is so intimate that it re- 
quires some pedagogical skill to determine which of the two should 
take the lead. But we have already adjudged History to be by 
far the more important of the two. Its subject matter is of 
greater intrinsic interest to children, and as it already stands in 
the commanding center of the school course, we are disposed to 
bring the Geography lessons into close dependence upon it." 

The teacher of History, therefore, should introduce the Geog- 
raphy in time to save the pupil from the possibility of falling into 
the vagueness which necessarily must come in the study of the 
subject if the geography does not come to play its part in locating 
events and associating time and place. 

Oral Geography as taught at home or the first year at school, 
must be primary facts and concepts drawn from objects of simple 
knowledge. They should include position, direction, distance, 
map representations, surface, climate, soil, land and water, trees 
and plants, fruits, grains, garden vegetables, animals — domestic 
and wild. 

These facts can be taught without a book and should be drawn 
from the pupil's own stock of knowledge. There will be no trou- 
ble for the teacher to talk of directions from the four corners of 
the school house, or the home; of distance from the space between 
the home and the school house; of land and water from the little 
stream which flows near the home or the school house ; of trees and 
plants from the many in the forest round and about; of the domes- 
tic and wild animals from those of the pupil's own acquaintance. 
All nature is teeming with beautiful lessons in every direction, and 
the teacher who is awake will find no trouble to furnish material 
from this store house. 

These lessons can be taught under the caption of Object Les- 
sons, and the teacher can make and gather material to suit her 
own fancy and the varying capabilities of the children. 

Primary Geography — Books. 

With a stock of primary knowledge learned from Nature's store 
house, the pupil is ready to begin thie study of Geography from 



Geography — When and How to Begin. 149 

books. The map should be furnished and the pupil be required 
to locate on the map places talked of and read about. The 
teacher should be in harmony with the idea that History and Geog- 
raphy should go hand in hand in the work of teaching Geography, 
and thus being imbued, she should make necessary preparation to 
supply the history pupils with maps and the geography pupils 
with maps, globes, and other such helps as will be necessary to aid 
in the work of teaching Geography. 

Advanced geography should be taught in the same way as has 
been indicated in the primary grades, with History going step by 
step with this subject. 

Too, the practical idea should be more fully developed at this 
stage of the study, and should underlie all the work of the class. 

Geography not only bears a close relation to History as indicat- 
ed above, but it bears important relation with almost all branches 
of study. Mr. McMurry again says that Geography especially 
serves to establish a network of connections between other kinds 
of knowledge. It is a very important supplement to History. In 
fact, History cannot dispense with its help. Geography lessons 
are full of natural science, as with plants and animals, rocks, cli- 
mate, inventions, machines and races. Indeed, there are few, if 
any school studies, which should not be brought into close and im- 
portant relation to Geography." 

Some Obsef vations on Geography. 

(i) Geography should be taught early in order to be correlated 
with the study of History. 

(2) The long search after questions at the bottom of the page is 
a loss of time in the study of the subject. 

(3) The subject should be taught practically, if best results are 
obtained. 

(4) For young pupils, special, devices in teaching this subject 
should be resorted to, such as clay modeling, drawing, sketching, 
map drawing, etc. 

(5) For advanced grades, the topic method of reciting is prefer- 
able. 

Summary. — 

I — Geography closely allied to History. 

2^The divisions of the subject. 

3 — The utilitarian viewpoint. 

4 — A change of method in the schoolroom. 

5 — Geography put into a tune. 

6 — We should be practical. 

7 — Why locate Denver on Colorado river? 



150 



School- Room Helps. 



8 — Some hold that Geography does not need to be taught. 

9 — Another view. 

lo — No departure. 

1 1 — History and Geography correlate. 

12 — Mr. McMurry's opinion. 

1 3 — Should save pupil from falling into vagueness. 

14 — Oral Lessons. How taught. 

15 — Primary Geography. 

1 6 — Teachers should be in harmony. 

1 7 — Advanced Geography. 

18 — Geography and its relation to other studies. 

19 — Some observations. 




CHAPTER XVII. 



XXIL SOME GENERAL OBSERVA- 

TIONS. 



The Management of the school is what the teachers make it. 

Whenever the government of the school runs down it is a true- 
index of the mental or physical condition of the governor. 

The management of the Negro schools of the South, is more or 
less committed to their hands, and while the principals of these 
schools are not called Superintendents, they are Superintendents, 
they are Superintendents in reality. The question arises whether 
the Negro schools suffer in their hands, exclusive of the white 
Superinten dents . 

This is a question which is now beginning to receive some con- 
sideration among the colored people, since it is understood that, 
there is one supervisor of all the schools and since the Colored, 
school is a part of the Public school system. 

The question is not raised on account of any desire on the part, 
of the Colored population to take their schools in charge (for it is: 
a further question opened for discussion as to whether the time has, 
come when the race is properly equipped in education and all the 
necessary prerequisites for the proper control of the Public school" 
system) ; but it is raised on the account of the fact that in man)r 
places in the country, the immediate supervision of the Negro 
schools has fallen into their hands for various reasons, some of 
which we presume to predicate as follows : (a) The growing ten- 
dency on the part of the authorities who control public education 
to shift the responsibility of the education of the Negro upon him- 
self, since he is clamoring for it in many instances. 

(6) A drift of sentiment on the part of some people to allow 
those of the Negroes that have educated themselves to educate 
the rest. 

(c) An apparent indifference on the part of some communities, 
as to Negro education. 

(151) 



152 School-Room Helps. 



{d) A growing tendency on the part of some of the Superin- 
tendents of schools to leave the management of the Negro school 
with their principals and teachers. 

Let the cause come from any one of these sources, the effect is 
the same, and the school is left to the Negro. 

Now, the discussion would turn to the vital point. Has the 
education of the race advanced to that degree of permanency that 
the Negro as a race, is prepared mentally and otherwise for the 
task of supervising the Public school system? And the further 
question arises. Does the Negro desire this responsibility? Is he 
clamoring for it? Is he ready for it? 

We shall offer our own versions or opinion on these three ques- 
tions, and leave the rest for assumption. 

Does he desire this responsibility? To say that he does not 
desire this responsibility would say that he does not desire to have 
the task of educating himself, and he is dependent upon someone 
else to educate him. 

The real truth as we see it is, there is no serious desire on the 
part of the most thoughtful ones of the race to take this responsi- 
bility before the race is prepared for it. Fifty years of emanci- 
pation cannot prepare a race to educate itself. It will take 
another fifty years and more to accomplish the work. 

Is he clamoring for it? There are some instances of clamor on 
the part of persons who do not represent the race, nor are they 
themselves (in many instances) examples of strong character and 
race leadership. There may be, however, persons who are really 
interested at heart concerning the progress of the race, who are 
discouraged on account of the trend of public sentiment, and in 
their hours of despondency and disappointment they clamor for 
their own management. Is the race ready for it? We say as a 
race he is not ready for it. He is not ready in this short time of 
his emancipation, to shoulder the responsibility of educating him- 
self. It is his responsibility, it is his problem, but he is hardly pre- 
pared to solve it. 

His responsibility may be compared to the man who was given 
four middlings of meat to carry home. He wanted the meat to 
feed his family, but could not carry it home without assistance. 
He could carry one or two pieces, but the condition required that 
he carry the whole at once, which to him was impossible. The 
Negro's load of educating himself is too heavy. He can carry a 
part of it, but he is asking help from all his neighbors and from 
public munificences to aid in the struggle. He must have aid 
from the friends around him. He cannot carry the load any more 
than the Indian or the Chinese in this country can carry their 
load. 



Some General Observations. 



153 



Indeed, the government is seeing to it that these races, the 
Indian especially, are not left to themselves in the matter of e du- 
cation; for large sums of money are annually appropriated, and 
provisions made for teachers and superintendents, to go among 
these people and carry on the work of education. 

This country owes more to the Negro than to any race except 
the white race, for the Negro has been a mighty factor in the 
civilization by means of felling the trees, tunneling the moun- 
tains, and clearing away the debris which the real civilizers 
have commanded him to remove. As a factor in this country, 
the Negro laborer has been a means of great commercial profit 
and should, therefore, be an important consideration of the govern- 
ment in its provisions for education and training. 

This is a duty which the government owes not only to the Negro 
for his 245 years of service, but the government owes it to itself in 
order to insure domestic tranquility and the continual prosperity 
of the nation. 




CHAPTER XVIIL 



XXIIL SOME RACIAL AND SCHOOl 
STATISTICS OF TEXAS. 



State Department of Education, 

Austin, Texas., Dec. i, 191 1, 
Mr. G. W. Jackson, 
Corsicana, Texas. 

Dear Sir : — In compliance with your request made known 
in your letter bearing date of Nov. 25th, I am pleased to give you 
the following statistics for the scholastic year beginning Sept. i 
1909. and ending Aug. 31, 19 10, which is our latest compiled sta 
tistics. 

I — There were, Colored schools 2286 

2 — The State apportioned funds to 192236 

3 — ^The number of Negro children enrolled in the 

schools of that year 156827 

4 — The number of Negro children that did not 

enroll during that year was -_ 35409 

(a) The average daily attendance of Colored 
children was 96451 

(b) The number of Colored children absent 
each day during which the schools were open 

to them was 95785 

5 — There were, Colored teachers 3215 

(employed, including 39 substitutes). 

6 — There were 126 schools in independent districts 
that had high school subjects taught in them in 
1909 and 1 9 10. 

7 — The average annual salary paid Colored teach- 
ers in round numbers was $290 

8 — The average length of free school term of Negro 

schools was 1 24.966 

days 

(154) 



Some Racial and School Statistics of Texas. 155 

9 — According to our information, there are six industrial schools 
for Colored youths in Texas, and there may be more which have 
thus far not been reported to this department. 
Respectfully yours, 

F. M. BRALLEY, 

State Superintendent. 

Some Leading Schools in Texas Run by the Race. 

Wiley University, Marshall, Texas Dr. M. W. Dogan, Pres. 

Bishop College, Marshall, Texas Dr. C. H Maxon 

Seguin College, Seguin, Texas Dr. Ball 

Tillotson College, Austin, Texas 

Sam Houston College, Austin, Texas Prof. R. S. lyOvingood 

Conroe College, Conroe, Texas Dr. D. Abner 

Paul Quinn College, Waco, Texas Prof. I. M. Burgan 

Texas College, Tyler Prof. Tyson 

Houston Academy, Houston, Texas Prof. W. F. Gross 

Central Texas College, Waco, Texas Dr. Strong 




CHAPTER XIX. 



XXIV. SOME NATIONAL STATISTICS. 



POPULATION. 



1910 


1900 


1890 


Increase. 


Increase. , 


Colored 9, 828, 294 

All other Races of Color- 411 ,285 


8, 833, 994 
351,. 385 


7, 488. 676 
357 780 


10.70 
.40 


11 .6 
.50 



Farms of White and Colored. 



White 

Colored 


5, 422, 892 
917,465 


4, 969. 608 
767, 764 


453, 284 
149, 701 


9.1 
19.5 


85.5 
14.50 



States in wliicti Negro Excels Whites. 



Mississippi: 

Wliite 

Colored- . 

Louisiana: 
White -. - 
Colored-. 



786, 119 
1,009,487 



679, 162 
835, 843 



641,200 
907, 630 



557, 803 
782, 321 



43.70 
56.2 



44.8 
55.2 



White population stands 88.9 per cent of whole. Colored 
population stands 10.70 per cent of whole. Population in the 
South stands as follows: white (1910) 69.10, 63.40. Colored 
(1900) .29.80, 32.30, 

The scholastic population in the South in 1908-9 between the 
ages of five and eighteen; white children 6,566,118; colored chil- 
dren 3,038,710 The ratio of percentage of whites and colored, 
68.36 to 31.64. 

No. of Pupils in the High Schools of the South for 1908-9 
As Taken from the National Bureau of Education. 

No. of High Schools 141 

No. High School Teachers - 473 

No. of High School Pupils 10,654 

No. of Schools for Higher Education 189 

No. of Teachers in the Higher Institutions 2,941 

No. of Industrial Pupils. : 29,954 

No. of Pupils in the Higher Institutions 57.915 

(156) 



Some National Statistics. 157 

No. of Leading Colleges for Negroes in the United States. 

Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn. 

Howard University, Washington, D. C. 

Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga. 

lyincoln University, Pennsylvania. 

Wilberforce, Wilberforce, Ohio. 

Central Tennessee or Walden University, Nashville, Tenn. 

Talladega College, Talladega, Ala. 

Straight University, New Orleans, La. 

Spelman Seminary, Atlanta, Ga. 

Shaw University, Raleigh, N. C. 

Wiley University, Marshall, Texas. 

Morris Brown College, Atlanta, Ga. 

Clark University, Atlanta, Ga. 

State University, Louisville, Ky. 

Leland University, New Orleans, La. 

Southern University, New Orleans, La. 

Rusk University, Holly Springs, Miss. 

Kittrell College, Kittrell, N. C. 

Claflin University, Orange, S. C. 

Bishop College, Marshall, Texas. 

Guadalupe College, Seguin, Texas. 

Paul Quinn College, Waco, Texas. 

Virginia Union University, Virginia. 

Leading Normal Schools. 

Tuskegee Normal, Tuskegee, Ala. 

Hampton Normal and Industrial, Hampton, Va. 

Georgia Normal and Mechanical School, Macon, Ga. 

Lincoln Institute, Jefferson City, Mo. 

State Agricultural and Mechanical School, Normal, Ala. 

Prairie View State Normal, Hempstead, Texas. 

Langston Agricultural and Mechanical School, Langston, Okla. 

And quite a number of others which space will not permit our 
including in this volume. 

Some Leading Features of Negro Education. 

I — Dr. B. T. Washington, is Exponent of Industrialism in this 
country, and has the largest School in the world — the outgrowth 
of his doctrine. 

2 — Dr. W. E- B. DuBois, is Exponent of Classical Education 
for his race, and is Editor of a magazine in New York which pro- 
mulgates his doctrine. 

3 — The most complete and unique High School for the Negro 



158 



School- Room Helps. 



in the South or Southwest appears to be the Sumner High School 
in St. Louis, Mo. 

4- — The State which leads in the long list of High Schools for 
the race at present, is Texas. 

5 — The State which leads in biggest School Fund for all the 
children, regardless of conditions, is Texas. 

6 — The best and most costly Public School building for Negroes 
built in recent years is at Ft. Worth , Texas — cost, $50,000. 

7 — The States which appear to lead in small school fund and 
short school terms are Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. 

8 — The State which appears to have less support and does most, 
or in other words, the Negroes who seem to help themselves most, 
live in Mississippi. 

9— Texas leads in number of Summer Normals for teachers and 
hardest examinations. 

10 — Texas leads in extent of territory, for it is said she will 
make 208 States the size of Rhode Island and a small potato 
patch over. 

ii^Fisk University leads all other Schools in the South or 
North in graduates of students from her courses — Normals 387, 
College 439; total 876. 




CHAPTER XX. 



XXV. SOME TEACHERS WHO HAVE 
MADE TEXAS SCHOOLS A SUCCESS. 



The public schools of Texas have been in the hands of the col- 
ored teachers since the State has taken the advanced step to put 
her schools upon a permanent basis. 

The intimation is that the pubHc schools were for a long time, 
in Texas, disorganized and in confusion by reason of the fact that 
there were few educators in the State and a poor system of schools 
in vogue. 

That the children of the State were fortunate in the disposition 
of the pubHc lands which the pioneers of the State saw fit to set 
aside for a permanent school fund for them, is a well known fact 
which has guaranteed a perpetuity for the schools of Texas for 
generations to come. 

It was not the lack of money to run the schools in Texas, there- 
fore, that caused their tardy organization. It was the lack as 
intimated, of teaching force and organization, which organiza- 
tion took permanent shape in the seventies, in many of the lead- 
ing counties. 

Texas was generous in her provisions from the beginning. She 
made provisions for all the children, regardless of color or previous 
condition. 

The organization of schools for white and colored has gone hand 
in hand with the educational trend in the State, and to-day the 
State has a thorough system of schools in every county, and in 
every city. 

The colored teachers in Texas have been given the task of or- 
ganizing and building up their schools in the State, along with 
the whites. In this connection the schools in Texas have differed 
from the schools of other States where the colored schools were in 
the hands of white teachers — Northerners, who came down as 
missionaries to assist in the education of the emancipated slave. 

Few of these schools, if any, were established in Texas, and, 
therefore, whatever was to be done in this connection in this 
State, was to be done by the teachers at home. It can be seen, 
therefore, that there were pioneers in Texas in the education 

(159) 



160 School- Room Helps. 

of the racf , and that whatever has been accompHshed in this Hne 
is due to the native teachers and those who have been imported 
into the State to do service in the State, in the way of putting the 
schools on a permanent basis. 

One of the first cities in the State to elect teachers and start the 
Negro population on the road to education, was Ft. Worth, and 
one of the first teachers to be selected in Texas, was Prof. I. M. 
Terrell, a graduate of Straight University, New Orleans. 

Mr. Terrell has grown with the schools of Ft. Worth, or those 
schools have grown by means of his influence and work from a 
scholastic enrollment of 200, to an enrollment to-day of over 
2,000; from a once small wooden building to one of the most com- 
modious and modern school buildings in Texas. This educator has 
to his credit 30 years of service in the State, 29 in Ft. Worth as 
principal of the school; has taught Summer Normals in Marshall, 
Dallas, Sherman, Corsicana, Waxahachie, and Ft. Worth; a great 
advocate of civic righteousness and social purity of his race, and 
has built up a sentiment among his people for good school houses 
for his race, resulting in the erection of the best public school 
building for the colored people in Texas at a cost of Fifty Thou- 
sand Dollars. He has built up one of the best Industrial Schools 
in Texas, and can summon more white friends to his aid than 
any teacher in the State. 

Prof. L. C. Anderson, who has been identified with the growth 
of the public schools of Texas and with the city schools of Austin 
for many years, is one of the oldest teachers in Texas, and has 
been in the front ranks of every movement in the State, looking to 
the uplifting of his race for thirty-two years, which years have 
been the most varied of any teacher in Texas. Entering the 
county schools in 1880, then as assistant at Prairie View State 
Normal, he was elected in 1884 to the principalship of the latter 
school, serving in this capacity for 12 years. He began his work 
at Prairie View with 38 pupils enrolled and left with 256 enrolled. 

Mr. Anderson has to his credit as an educator and pioneer in 
Texas, the following assets: A county teacher, assistant at Prairie 
View Normal, Principal of Prairie View for 12 years, Principal 
and Supervisor of Negro Schools in Austin for sixteen years, to 
the present time. 

When work began at Austin, the enrollment was 1,090, but now 
it is 2,120. Enrollment in the High School was 39 and 102 in the 
Grammar school — now it is in these grades, 309. 

He was first president of the Teacher's State Association, and 
has been attending the sessions of that body for 25 years. He is 
now president of the Teachers' Advisory Board of Texas, and re- 



Some Teachers in Texas Schools. 161 

peatedly elected Conductor of the State School of Methods, and 
has conducted Summer Normals annually since their organization 
in 1881. 

This is verily one of the pioneers in education in the State. 

Prof. J. R. Gibson, now principal of the Central High School 
in Galveston, a graduate of Wilberforce University, Ohio, is also 
one of the foremost educators of his race in Texas, having begun 
his work in Galveston in 1882. With three years' work done in 
the primary grades of the city, he was elected principal in 1885 
and has held that position with much credit to his race until the 
present time. 

Mr. Gibson entered the schools of Galveston when there were 
only four grades in the City school, and has worked the school 
up to one of the best High Schools in Texas. He has been an im- 
portant factor in the development of education in Texas, and es- 
pecially in Galveston, where he has endeavored to put the schools 
of that city foremost in all that it takes to make a great system. 
His influence has been felt in all the councils of education in Texas, 
having been in constant attendance on the Teachers' State Asso- 
ciation, and once president of that body. A Summer Normal 
Conductor, a great debater and defender of Negro manhood; has 
the credit of working up sentiment among the financiers of his 
city to the extent that they donated the only Public library in 
Texas, and also attached to the public school of Galveston the best 
equipped Industrial School for Colored pupils in the entire South. 

Prof. N. W. Harllee has been connected with the growth of the 
Public School system in Texas for 27 years, spending all of that 
time in the city of Dallas. He is an A. B. of Biddle University, 
North Carolina, having given several years to government serv- 
ice under the Civil Service regulations. 

Mr. Harllee entered the school of Dallas when efficient service 
was at a premium and worked his way up the ladder of efficiency, 
till he was made principal of the High School with little or no 
equipment. He began to work up sentiment of the people in fa- 
vor of equipment and a building for the Colored population of 
Dallas, and soon won his point by securing a High School and 
equipment which will do credit to his efforts. 

He has served on the front rank in Texas in all the work of 
education for the last quarter of a century and has been one of the 
fearless defenders for purity of character, virtue of womanhood, 
and love of race ideals. 

The following will note what he has done for education in the 
State: A member of the State Teachers' Association for 25 years 
or more and once president of that body ; a builder of a great High 



162 School- Room Helps. 



School, and system of schools second to none in Texas; as Summer 
Normal conductor and public sentiment builder ; a great advocate 
of social purity, and industrialism of the Booker T. Washington 
type. 

Prof. E. L. Blacksheaf , now principal of the Prairie View 
State Normal, has a record as one of the pioneer educators of 
Texas, having begun his work in the State in 1882. He taught 
in the rural schools of Ellis, Bastrop and McClellan counties, and 
worked his way up the ladder of efficiency till he was elected prin- 
cipal of the Austin City Schools, which he held a short while and 
resigned to accept principalship of the Prairie View State Normal 
in 1896, which position he has held till the present. 

When he began the work at Prairie View the enrollment was 
150 pupils, now it is 1,200. He has been at the head of this great 
State institution for sixteen years and his influence has been felt 
in every community in the State, where students from that school 
have gone. There are few communities in the State where the 
influence of that school has not been felt, and where the schools 
have not been occupied by teachers from Prairie View. 

As a speaker, he has few equals in the State, and as an educator, 
few superiors. He has been a member of the Teachers' State As- 
sociation for many years, and once president of that body, a mem- 
ber of the Advisory Board, and fearless advocate of race uplift 
and race ideals. 

Pres. F. W. Gross, now president of Houston Academy, be 
gan his work in Texas as a teacher in the public schools. He was 
finally elected principal of the Victoria school and served in that 
position for a number of years, when he resigned to take the pres- 
idency of Houston Academy, which position he still fills to the 
satisfaction of his patrons. 

As a teacher in the public schools of the State, Mr. Gross was 
a great factor in the educational councils for years, and never lost 
an opportunity to do what he could to further the cause of his 
race. He has held Summer Normals in various places in Texas, 
has been a member of the Teachers' Association for years, and 
was one of its honored presidents and now a member of the Ad- 
visory Board of that body. 

As principal of the Victoria public schools he influenced his 
Board of Education to establish one of the first industrial schools 
for Colored children in Texas, and has always been an advocate 
of industrialism among his people. He is one of the leaders of 
educational thought in Texas, and his counsel as an educator has 
been felt in all the meetings of teachers in Texas for more than 20 
years. 



Some Teachers in Texas Schools. 163 

As president of one of the church schools, he is now a molder of 
public sentiment, and an educator of the youth, without whom his 
church and the race at large would suffer. 

Mr. Gross is one of the pioneers in education in Texas, and his 
work in the public schools alone has done much to demonstrate 
the capabilities and possibilities of the race 

Prof. Chas. Atherton of Houston has been one of the perma- 
nent educators in the State for many years, and is classed as one 
of the pioneers in the State. While his work has been princi- 
pally confined to the city school of Houston, it has been contin- 
uous for many years, and covers over the period of organization 
and construction in the State. 

Mr. Atherton, it is said, is a West Indian by birth and training, 
and entered the public school work in the State when the service 
of ripe scholarship and sterling character was very rare among the 
teachers of the State. He has conducted Normals for teachers, 
met the educators on the field of battle and aided as far as possible 
in the struggles of the race for survival. As an educator, scholar, 
advocate of moral character and Christian demeanor he is a bright 
example. 

Mrs. Julia Caldwell Frazier has been connected with the pub- 
lic schools of the State for many years and has been employed in 
the city school of Dallas, first as a primary teacher and finally as 
teacher of language in the High School of which she is one of the 
prime builders. 

Mrs. Frazier is easily classed as the leading educator among the 
women teachers of the State, and indeed, she ranks as one of the 
Taest equipped school teachers in the South. It can be said of 
Mrs. Frazier what cannot be said of many others who spend their 
lives in the schoolroom, that is, she has prepared herself, at great 
•cost and sacrifice, for her profession. 

She has been a great factor in the work of construction in the 
Dallas High School and to her skilful hand and trained mind may 
be attributed a very considerate proportion of the success of the 
High School of Dallas. 

As a primary teacher equipped with the latest methods of 
teaching, Mrs. Frazier was employed in the State School of Meth- 
'ods, and has done service as professional teacher for four or five 
years, giving great satisfaction in her work, and making herself 
very popular in these sessions. 

Mrs. Frazier is a gradiiate of Howard University, Washington, 
D. C, and has attended several of the summer schools in the North 
for the training of Teachers. Col. Parker's and Martha's Vineyard 
w£r£ attended by her in search for professional preparation. She 



164 School- Room Helps. 

has been before the hmehght of pubHc opinion for some 1 8 or 20 
years, and may be classed among the later pioneers of educators 
in Texas. Suffice it to say that no teacher in Texas outranks her 
in scholarly and professional attainments, and none have worked 
their way higher up and won plaudits of their patrons in greater 
profusion than is true of her. 

Mrs. Mary E. Moore of Waco, Texas, has been in the school- 
room in that city for more than a quarter of a century. ■ Her hus- 
band, Prof. A. J. Moore, served as principal of the school for 30 
years, and her service in the same school runs parallel with his. 
She is still in the ranks teaching the youth of that city, and has 
given more service, perhaps, to her race in the schoolroom than 
any female teacher in the State. 

She has been active in school circles, and has been an educator 
that has brought things to pass in her city, and has done much 
State work. The public schools of Waco have grown from a 
small beginning to their present proportions under her guiding 
hand, and much of their success is due to her continuous and faith- 
ful service. 

Mrs. Fannie Chase Harris of Dallas is another one of the 
pioneers of Texas, who has done much to bring the schools of 
Texas out of chaos into light. Commencing her work at Corsi- 
cana in the days of the organization of the school in that city, and 
giving to that school five years of continued service, she changed 
her field of labor to the city of Dallas where she has taught more 
than 20 years in the primary grade of that school. 

She has been a great teacher and many Negro children in these 
two cities have received their first impressions from her. 

Mrs. Harris has to her credit, perhaps, more active service in 
the schoolroom than any teacher in the list of the pioneers of edu- 
cation in Texas. She has two States to her credit, and her work 
in this State alone covers a period of over 30 years. 

No teacher of the race in the State has been more faithfui and 
more continuous than she has, and none have been more useful 
to their race. 

Mrs. Cora Kerr of Bastrop, is a teacher that has forced her 
way up the ladder of service till she now bears the name among 
the people of faithful servant. She has been in the teaching 
ranks in Texas many years, and has met the enemy on the field of 
battle to do service whenever the opportunity presented itself. 

She ranks as a first-rate primary teacher and has spent some 
time in the preparation of herself for the work, having attended 
from time to time, professional schools of the North, and Summer 
Normals. 



Some Teachers in Texas Schools. 165 

Mrs. Kerr has been a constant attendant on the Teachers' As- 
sociation and has always been one of the leaders in that body. 
She justly claims a place among the race builders in Texas, and 
is classed as such. Her work continuously in Bastrop, city and 
county, and in the Summer Normals of the State, as a primary 
expert will merit her place among those in Texas, who are laying 
their lives on the altar of service. 

David Abner, Jr., has been in the work of education in Texas 
many years, though he does not get his reputation as a public 
school teacher. He was educated at Fisk University and Bishop 
College, and graduated from the latter with A. B. degree. He 
has been one of the fortunate sons of the race, if position in the 
Colleges make a man fortunate. 

His work in the State covers many years' services, but he has 
always been in charge of or held position in one of the colleges of 
the race. Beginning as teacher in Bishop College, Marshall, 
where he held position several years, he finally was called to the 
presidency of Guadelupe College, where he built up one of the 
best colleges in the State for his Church. This school ranked as 
one of the leading institutions while he was at its head. 

He was called, after several years' service at Guadelupe College, 
to the presidency of Conroe Industrial College, where he has again 
built up a great school and where he has demonstrated without 
question, his ability to conduct and build up colleges. 

Mr. Abner is, perhaps, one of the best college men in Texas, and 
Tanks as one of the leading educators of the race in the South. As 
teacher in a college, as president of Seguin College, as president of 
Conroe College, and as president of the Teachers' State Associa- 
tion, he ranks as one of the pioneers in education in Texas, and 
may be styled the prince of college presidents in the South. 

Dr. M. W. Dogan, president of Wiley University at Marshall, 
while he has never been identified with the public schools of Texas 
as a public school teacher, yet, he has been a staunch supporter of 
public school propositions in all the councils of the teachers. 

Dr. Dogan has been a great example of unselfish devotion to 
race ideals and race elevation, and has been one of the cleanest 
presidents and prominent race leaders in Texas. He has not 
made his reputation as a public school teacher, as intimated above 
but his work as an educator has been in connection with the public 
school teachers, and in behalf of public education, as well as in 
connection with the building up of Wiley University. 

He has to his credit 25 years of service, 16 years of which have 
been in Wiley University. Educated at Rust University, Miss., 
he taught a while in Walden University, Nashville, and then came 



166 School-Room Helps. 



to Texas and began the work of building up Wiley as a great Ne- 
gro school. That he has succeeded in building up at Marshall one 
of the greatest Negro schools in the State, will be attested only by 
making a visit to that town. 

It is now conceded, without doubt, that under the administra- 
tion of Pres. Dogan, Wiley University has forged to the front of 
schools in the State, and has few, if any, equals in Texas. It is a 
characteristic Negro school, and is the only school accepted by the 
State as a college with all prerequisites for recognition. 

Hon. H. C. Bell is one of the educators of Texas who has been 
at work since 1885, when he entered the State from Rust Uni- 
versity, Miss. He entered at first the rural school work, having 
taught in Dallas County, and Denton County. He was next 
elected principal of Athens school, where he taught seven years 
and finally as principal of Denton City school, where he has 
worked up a large school with High school department. 

Hon. Bell has been in charge of Summer Normals for teachers 
and has always kept himself in touch with the educational inter- 
est of the race, and has been an active factor in Negro progress in 
Texas. 

He has been principal of the Fred Douglass High School in 
Denton for 16 years, and has to his credit more than a quarter of a 
century of schoolroom work in this State alone. He is an educa- 
tor of no mean ability, and is one of the best known men in the 
State, having been engaged in general educational work outside 
of the school for as many years as he has been in the State. 

Hon. Bell deserves to be placed among the leading educators of 
the State, and posterity will ascribe to him greater works of benev- 
olence, more speeches delivered, more miles traveled, than is true 
of any man in the State. 

Prof. W. H. Burnett of Terrell is, perhaps, the youngest of all 
the educators whom we have already mentioned, but one of the 
most brilliant and scholarly men engaged in teaching in the State. 
Mr. Burnett has been engaged in teaching first in the rural dis- 
tricts in several places in the State, then as teacher in the public 
school at Waxahachie, and finally he was called to the principal- 
ship of the public school at Terrell, where he has taught contin- 
uously for 15 or 18 years. 

He is a graduate of Lincoln University, Pa., with degree of A. 
B. He cannot be classed, in age, as one of the pioneers in Texas, 
but in point of active service in the State in connection with the 
old teachers, he is classed as one of the most useful and successful 
teachers who entered the ranks in recent vears, and worked his 



Some Teachers in Texas Schools. 167 

way to the front ranks of the teachers' profession with the rapidity 
of a meteor. 

As a scholar he is ripe and ready ; as a teacher he is one that has 
won the confidence of the people because they know he knows; 
as a speaker he is one in demand among the teachers; as a student 
of sociology and mental science, he is in a class to himself. 

He has to his credit, ripe scholarship , 15 or i8 years' service in 
the schoolroom, a brilliant career as a school man defending the 
race and upholding the principles of good citizenship. He has 
taught in Summer Normals, the State School of Methods, and 
has been in demand in both college and High school as Commence- 
ment orator. 

Mr. T. J. Charlton is now principal of Beaumont City School, 
having been in charge of that school for 16 years. He is a gradu- 
ate of Prairie View State Normal and has forced his way to the 
front as one of the leading teachers of the present force now at 
the head of the Texas schools. 

He cannot properly be classed as one of the pioneers in the work 
of education in Texas, but he is classed as one of the teachers of 
the present day army who is bringing things to pass in a way that 
there is no mistake as to his place among the leaders of the race. 
His work began in the rural schools, having taught at Colmesneil, 
Olive and Nacogdoches. 

When he began the work in Beaumont, there were four grades 
in the school and 150 pupils, now this school has an enrollment of 
about 1700 pupils and 22 teachers. He is one of the silent forces 
which is working in the public school in a way to make his acts 
count. He has been a Summer Normal teacher, as well as a mem- 
ber of the faculty of the State School of Methods. 

Mr. Charlton served as president of the Teachers' State Asso- 
ciation. He has already become one of the teachers who is put 
down among the leaders who are bringing things to pass. 

Pres. R. S. Lovingood is one of the College presidents in Tex- 
as that has worked hand in hand with the teachers of the public 
school in everything that has been undertaken for the good of the 
race in Texas. Coming to Texas from Georgia where he was 
educated in Atlanta, he entered Wiley University as a teacher in 
that school, but was called to the presidency of Samuel Huston 
College, where he has built up one of the best Negro colleges in 
Texas. 

This school under the presidency of this energetic man, has out- 
striven every school of its kind in Texas, doing the work of a col- 
lege and putting on the airs of a real college sooner than any school 
in Texas. The work done in this school, the faculty, the tone of 



168 School- Room Helps. 



the school, all are of the highest type and bespeak the character of 
the man at the head. 

Mr. Lovingood is an example of push and pluck, and went to 
the front ranks as an educator faster than any man in Texas. He 
has worked side by side with the public school teachers and has 
advocated at all times, union of forces in the public school and in 
the colleges in the State, in order that education may be carried 
to all classes. 

He has sent from his school some of the best teachers in the 
State, that are themselves exemplifying in their lives the training 
given at that college. He is one of those that arrived on the field 
of battle after the war had begun and after the battle against ig- 
norance was well on, but in time to join his energies to others and 
help to carry the battle to the gate. 

He joined the army at once and has been a valiant soldier, 
fighting in the trenches and forcing his way inch by inch till he 
has been promoted to the rank of leader. He is a bold and daring 
leader who never shrinks or fears when the foe is nigh. 

Mr. C. F. Carr, principal of the City schools of Palestine, is 
classed as one of the earnest workers in the schoolroom. He was 
educated in Wilberforce University, and has taught in the public 
schools of Crockett, Lovelady, and Palestine. He has held the 
principalship of the Palestine schools for 13 years and is making 
good in every sense of that term. 

He is an example of conservatism and Christian demeanor which 
should characterize every gentleman. He is one of the younger 
men who has joined the army in more recent years and is working 
side by side in the trenches with the older men to the end that 
success may crown the work. 

His work has been in the schoolroom as teacher, as principal of 
the Palestine school, as conductor of Summer Normals, teacher in 
the School of Methods, and in connection with the Teachers' 
Association in the councils of the race. 

Mr. B. Y. Aycock of Rockdale is classed as one of the enthusi- 
astic workers who is trying by precept and example, to assist in 
the education of the race. He, top, is one of the younger men 
who has entered the field of battle later in the engagement, but has 
has done good work as a teacher, and as principal at Rockdale. 

He is an example of bold and daring courage and is doing what 
he can to land the race on firm ground, both materially and educa- 
tionally. He has been principal in his city several years, and is 
working out the problem there and trying to verify it as he goes. 



Some Teachers in Texas Schools. 169 

His attendance on the Teachers' State Association year after 
year, and his continuous work at Rockdale attest the fact that he 
is earnestly at work trying to assist in solving the race problem. 

Prof. A. S. Jackson of Paul Quinn College is not classed among 
the public school teachers, but he is one of the college 
teachers who takes a delight to condescend from their lofty height 
in the college to the ranks of the public school teacher, and fight 
in the councils of the teachers side by side with the teachers of the 
common schools. 

He is classed as one of the most forceful and fluent speakers we 
have, and is a most uncompromising defender of his race. He 
has been a hard worker as an educator and is now promoted to 
the presidency of the Teachers' State Association. 

Prof. L. B. Kincheon of Belton, who is principal of the school 
of that city, is also an example of a fearless and forcible defender 
of race ideals and race elevation. He has been a continuous worker 
in the public school and in the councils of the race for several 
years, and has much to his credit as an educator. 

Mr. W. A. Pete of Tyler who has long served his people as 
principal in that city; Mr. E. W. Bailey of Paris, principal for 
many years of the city school; Mr. Sutton of San Antonio, who 
has been principal of the High School in that city for a number of 
years, are each examples of hard workers at home on the race prob- 
lem, and have given their patrons satisfaction in the schoolroom 
as men of character and leaders in their communities. 

Mrs. N. L. Perry has been connected with the Corsicana Pub- 
lic Schools for 1 7 years, and has been for 8 years a tireless worker 
in the primary department, where tact, skill, patience and kind- 
ness were elements which she possessed in an abundant degree, 
insuring her continued success. 

She has been an important adjunct in the work of education in 
this city, and has started off many a child in the rudiments of 
education. She is a graduate of the school in which she now en- 
gages, and is also a graduate of Fisk University. 

Teachers of this character are the race-builders of any race. 

Miss B. M. Allen, who has been employed in the public school 
of Corsicana for twelve years as first assistant teacher, deserves 
to be mentioned in this connection. She is one of the strongest 
disciplinarians in the State, and has given to this school most val- 
uable service for all these years, both as a teacher and musician. 

She is a musician of no mean ability, and has trained all the 
pupils in this department during these years. Few teachers have 
the success as a disciplinarian, teacher and musician, as this 



170 



School- Room Helps. 



teacher has to her credit. The severing of her connection recent- 
ly, from this school on account of illness, is a loss which will long 
be felt in this city. 

Others. 

There are many other teachers who have been at work with 
those we have mentioned, and may have been just as successful in 
their work. Indeed, we could have mentioned quite a number 
who are just as deserving as some of those mentioned, but space 
will not allow the enumeration of all the persons who have con- 
tributed to the success of Negro education in Texas. 

We mention these as examples, and trust the use of their names 
may not act in any way to take from the rest whatever good they 
have done. 




BROTHERHOOD. 



Great changes come 

In predetermined order; 
The time may be delayed but come they will. 

The seer hails them; 
He, the faithful warder, 

Sees them and passes ere Time can fulfill. 

These changes wrought 

Are not one man's endeavor; 
They grow perhaps within the hearts of men. 

Until the time 
Is ripe, and yet forever 

We plodding mortals dare to reckon when. 

Ages have passed 

Since Time, the true recorder, 
Found man a slave to fatal War's decree; 

Soon Stress and Strain 
Changed man from this disorder 

And proved the falseness of the Cynic's plea. 

Lo, now the morn, 

When brother comforts brother. 
When man meets man and greets with friendly grace. 

When one shares ills 
Peculiar to the other 

And knows one land, one interest, one race. 

First dawn, then noon 

Comes on in swift succession 
For time moves ever onward in its way ; 

And cycle vies 
With cycle in progression 

To bring at last the welcomed longed-for day. 

AZALIA E. MARTIN. 



MYSTERY. 



From out the mystic somewhere, yet unknown, 
I came a stranger here, unasked to plan, 
My journey in this life, a fleeting span 
Ushered by Cosmic Law, I came alone. 

And fleeting years had passed before I knew, 
I was; tho mysteries surround me, like a shroud, 
I wondered not whence came a star or cloud, 
Or who had painted heaven, a changeless blue. 

Before I left my home in distant clime 
Stern Destiny had marked my humble lot, 
Helpless am I, past life and form f ergot 
I am an infant in the lap of Time. 

The stars light worlds in God's vast firmament, 
That spin with rapid rate thro' boundless space, 
All, all the universe moves on apace. 
Around some unseen star omnipotent. 

When I have stepped on board each drifting ship, 
Within the fleet of planets and of stars, 
Sailing toward that star past earthly bars, 
My journey will my waiting soul equip. 

Into the mystic somewhere, yet unknown, 
I go some day to know another plan, 
When all is ended in this fleeting span, 
Impelled by Cosmic Law, I go alone. 

AZALIA E. MARTIN, in the Voice. 



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